


OCtober

by ivarara



Series: Maxis [21]
Category: Warframe
Genre: woo babey here we goeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 01:28:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 19,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20845295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivarara/pseuds/ivarara
Summary: Prompts for OCtober, revolving around my Operator Maxis and her little group of friends.





	1. Beginnings

“With all due respect, Commander, but…”

The commander looks expectantly at the medic. “Yes? You have something to say, Dodge?”

Dodge gives a deadpan look back at him. “Indeed.”

“Proceed, then. Get it out.”

“This is, quite possibly, the _worst_ idea you’ve enacted yet.”

The Tenno sitting on the crate in front of them shrinks into themselves, the kubrow at their feet staring at them with an icy glare. Her hair is tangled and disorderly, Transference suit scuffed and scraped and torn in places, little nicks and cuts visible on the patches of skin exposed. Her Warframe, an Ivara by the looks of it, restlessly drums her fingers on her thigh, likely craving the comfort of her exalted weapon in hand.

And they had just brought her in, like a stray out in the cold. His commander had just pitied their mortal enemy and brought one among their ranks. Not like this child could put up much of a fight at the moment: she’s so exhausted there is a tremble apparent in her frame. She seems incredibly timid as well, for their sake. That doesn’t mean their kubrow would not hesitate to strangle one of the troops if ordered to, or that the Ivara would not attempt an escape with her in tow.

“On impulse, it may seem so.” The commander muses. “But, remember-- she’s complying so far.” It’s not snarky, or mean; just an observation.

“So far, Zus.” Dodge huffs. “You say that as we’re patching her up back to health. What then? What happens when we have a fully-capable Tenno, kubrow, and Warframe on our hands, and they decide they don’t want to hang around?”

The Tenno’s eyes had gone wide, showing green irises surrounded by Void scars. 

“Don’t act like it hasn’t run through your mind at least once so far,” Dodge growls warily. The Tenno’s head hangs a bit. “So you have, then.” Dodge looks expectantly at Zus.

“If you truly wish to desert once we have restored your health, so be it,” Zus murmurs. “I will not stop you.”

“Zus, what--”

“But know this, Tenno.” He peers straight into her. “There are no second chances. We do not take _kindly_ to betrayals. We do not take _kindly_ to our services being taken advantage of.” Zus leans in menacingly. The Tenno recoils slightly, though her Warframe seems to be ready to defend her if needed. “You will be targeted specifically in any situation possible, relentlessly. We ourselves are a special operations unit. If deemed necessary, we _will_ bring Nightwatch Corps into this.

“So it’s truly up to you. We will not detain you if you wish to leave. But you will not know peace once you have left.”

Dodge barely resists the urge to snort. Zus is far from bluffing, he has the power to do what he’s threatening, but by the Queens, did he need to word it so dramatically?

“Well?” He elects to prompt instead. “I believe your commander has spoken to you, recruit.”

She tries to speak up once, but all that comes out is a hoarse croak, so she coughs and tries again. “Uh,” her voice comes out feebly. “Will they get to stay with me?” She nods towards her Warframe and kubrow.

“If they maintain the same responsible and cooperative demeanor, then yes.”

“Okay,” she chirps quietly. “Then, uh, I guess we’re all on board for now. If that’s okay.”

“Perfect.” Zus turns to Dodge. “Finish any medical necessities, then direct them to an empty area of the barracks to rest.” With that, he turns briskly and strolls out.

Dodge huffs again. “You’ve got him wrapped around your finger, somehow,” he mutters. “He’s never this lenient on recruits. What’s different about you?”

She shrugs, eyes on the floor.

“Regardless, then, I suppose we should meet properly, if we are to be proper squadmates.” Dodge extends a hand. “Combat medic Dodge, at your presence.”

The Tenno moves one scraped hand to shake his tentatively. “Maxis. And Hush and Trouvaille.” She points to each as she lists names.

“Welcome aboard. Keep the idiocy to a minimal level, then, since I’m the first one that has to deal with it if anyone gets hurt.”

She smiles, genuinely, as he continues to patch her up.


	2. Dancing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouvaille has hidden talents unrelated to combat.

“C”mere, mister-mister,” Max coos.

“You baby him entirely too much,” Tinleah sighs with a smile. “It’s actually adorable.”

“It’s not ‘babying him’, it’s _engagement_,” Max informs. Trouvaille trots up to his Tenno, stubby tail wagging and ears forward. While it seems he’s making a beeline straight for Maxis, he detours at the last second to brush past Tinny for a quick scritch on his ears, which he leans in to eagerly.

“Bad news, Maxis,” Tin starts with faux sincerity. “It seems you’ve been replaced. I think he loves me more now,” she finishes as the kubrow bumps her with his head in search of more scratches.

“You think so, then?” Max challenges cockily. “Check this.” She bends her knees and stoops over. “Trou-ble, wanna dance?”

Like a switch had been flipped, Trouvaille practically repels away from Tinleah towards Max, tail moving even more furiously now. The force of a bulky kubrow forcibly using her body to blast off knocks Tinny back, though she takes it in stride with an exaggerated frown and a huff.

“You...seriously taught him to dance? This big, intimidating, life-ending beast also has the knowledge of dancing?” Tin smirks.

“Trou knows a lotta things,” Max states matter-of-factly. “He knows hide-and-seek, and tag, and lots of stuff.”

“Some killer he is,” Tinleah snorts.

“A talented one,” her partner corrects. “Up, bud.”

Trouvaille leaps to his rear legs, plopping his dirty forepaws on Max’s torso. For her part, Max scoots her arm under his front legs to hold her kubrow up.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Tin sighs affectionately.

“Go, go! Dancin’ dog!”

Which unleashes a whole new breed of excitement to the kubrow. The black-spattered-brown canine bounces on his rear legs in furious, joyful hops, jostling Max with each movement. Max carefully steps forward, then back, then to the side.

“Oh my god,” Tinleah keels into bouts of laughter. “You weren’t kidding.”

Trouvaille is panting from how excited he is now, and Max likely has a stupid grin on her face under her mask. “I never kid,” Max snorts.

Tinleah stands to join them. “I’m stealing your partner, Trouvaille,” she informs as he hops down to run in frantic circles around the two of them. “So, tell me Maxis: do _you _know how to dance, then?”

“No,” she answers nearly instantly, still in a chipper tone of voice.

“Good thing I’m willing to walk you through it, then.” Tinleah arranges Max’s hands and places her own at desired points. “So, you go like this…”


	3. Feast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the Infested, anything is a feast.

“Gross.”

“Yeah. A metaphorical feast for every unsavory, unsightly, undelightful, unliked organism in the System.”

The Galleon is empty of Grineer life, unfortunately. Their bodies still line the floors, but none survived the biological onslaught.

That’s why they were here.

Just Max, Hush, Trouvaille, and a couple other Hounds, including Dodge. Sent in to quickly and efficiently dispatch of any Infested corpses for incineration, leaving the Galleon open to decontamination and repopulation in the typical quick, no-nonsense manner the Grineer harbor.

Giant, pulsing boils of gray and red Infested tissues fester around doors and in corners, looking as if they were breathing. _They may as well be,_ Max thinks. _This stuff is alive and well, much to our misfortune._

“You lot know the drill. Maxis and Hush lead, we pick off stragglers. Understood?” Dodge recites a typical work list in a tired voice.

A chorus of affirmatives sound from the other soldiers.

“And you, kid,” Dodge looks straight at her, pointing a finger. “You’re _immune_ to being Infested. You’re not _immune_ to being _killed_ by Infested. Remember that before any heroics. I’d like to keep this as menial and easy as possible.”

“Sure thing,” Max chirps. “You two ready?”

Hush flicks her wrist in the action to bring out her exalted weapon, while Trouvaille sits up straight and at attention.

“Then, I guess, let’s go.”

Oh, she is suddenly _very _grateful for her face mask. The place positively reeked of death and decay. Hush had no need to worry about scents, the troopers all had masks on as well, and Trouvaille was...Trouvaille. He typically liked things that otherwise smelled awful, like mud and animals and salvage.

A gargled croak informs them of their first instance of company. A Charger comes barreling around the corner, snarling and snapping at the group.

“There’s more behind it,” Max sounds off as she easily picks off the loner. “A right swarm, then. Ancients and Leapers and Runners and the whole kit and kaboodle.”

“God, for once in your life, speak coherently,” one of the Hounds lightly jabs as they settle into formation.

They work like a well-oiled machine. Hush shoots a dashwire to get a vantage point and fires pot shots to cause a distraction and pick off weaker units, occasionally darting a particularly rambunctious group of creatures with a Sleep Arrow. Trouvaille darts in to go for the towering Ancients, leaping up to wrap wicked teeth around their ragged throats until the life bleeds from them. Maxis chips away at the others’ health with her Argonak, easily taking down many of the lighter units. Any that are left are picked off by the Hounds behind her.

Rather quickly, the scraggly bunch eliminate the swarm. Hush lands neatly next to Maxis near-silently, while Trouvaille shakes himself off of any gunk that had stuck to him during his fighting.

“Cool, one down. How many more?”

Dodge huffs a sigh. “Maxis, this is _one room._ Out of an _entire Galleon_. We have quite a few more to go through,” he answers tiredly.

“More quality time with my boys and girl, then,” she claps a hand over her heart dramatically. “Let’s mow these things down.”


	4. Nature

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's hard to tell who enjoys the nice walks on Earth more.

The lush forests of the Earth settlements are a welcome breath of fresh air-- quite literally. The sealabs are claustrophobic, stuffy, and always leaking, which did nothing to settle her nerves. The asteroid bases are just dusty and loud with racket of all sorts. Galleons are...tolerable, but gosh, do they creak and hiss steam and all sorts of unsettling things you wouldn’t want to see or hear from a giant ship you’re aboard.

No, the forests of Earth are some of the last instances of actual nature left in the System. Maxis is Grineer, through and through, but even she doubted her alliance’s ability to completely wipe out all the forests to make room for settlements and colonies. The plants grew back too quickly, the wildlife is too resilient.

And the other Tenno that seemed to take particular joy in crashing the toxin mixer parties, but she was secretly glad for that.

Trouvaille is in his glory here. Mud to roll around in, plants to rustle through, water to splash in, wildlife to chase haphazardly. Hush enjoyed it too; plenty of natural cover she could easily slip behind if needed.

Just ignore the wild Kubrows, and it is a downright pleasant place.

She idly kicks a Threshcone along on the path she’s taking, Trouvaille chasing it avidly. After nearly whapping her canine on the snout with her foot on accident, she huffs. “Find your own thing to play with,” she scolds lightly.

Trouvaille gives her _the look_, the look of _‘you just gave me permission to do what I’m about to do, so do not complain when I do it’,_ but...in dog-form. He darts off into the undergrowth along the path none too gently, startling up a few birds and Kuakas that skitter across the trail.

“We’re in for it,” Max notes uninterestedly to Hush. Her Warframe gives a disinterested nod, too focused on whittling a stick into a find point with Max’s Sheev. “Ah, well. He needs some fun in his life.”

Hush rolls her head.

Max is careful to not wander too far from the outpost, but far enough that the bustle of bodies and machinery is tuned out by the birds singing and leaves rustling.

Until something else comes barging through the rustling leaves, damn near plowing them down on its rampage.

“Huh. He found something already,” Max says wistfully, looking up at the clouds floating by. Hush shrugs.

Yes, Trouvaille had found something, alright-- not just a twig, or a stick, but a damn branch he tugged along merrily. The thing was bigger than he was, about as round in diameter as Max’s neck.

“Good lord, Trou,” Max stammers. “You couldn’t settle for one we could actually..._play _with?”

Trouvaille is absolutely delighted at his marvelous feat, letting the thing fall to the ground with a clunk! that Max could feel through the ground. Even Hush pauses in disbelief for a moment, before looking up disappointedly to whatever higher being watched over them in the skies, if there was one. 

“That’s your task, then,” Max smirks. “If you can get that back to base, I’ll defend your right to have it. But I’m not helping.”

Trouvaille huffs a growl, stooping over to grab the branch in his jaws once more.


	5. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Orb Vallis is hard to navigate, when everything's covered in white.

“You would think we would be more familiar with the Orb Vallis by now, huh?” Max tries to pipe in light-heartedly. She’s astride Ruckus, the beast knee-deep in snow drifts. Trouvaille shuffles along determinedly, just the very top of his back and head visible above the snow. Hush plods alongside them silently, scouring the landscape for landmarks.

It would almost be peaceful, if Max was not wounded.

A rough fall, toppling over from a perch onto a study-looking hill proved to be an illusion, as it was merely a patch of snow covering jagged rocks. One leg injured, Max had brushed it off at first, something about “she’s had worse, she’ll be fine”. When she began stumbling every few steps. Hush deemed it time to intervene. Fortunately, Ruckus is well-tempered enough to handle the awkward mounting Max had to manage.

“Any luck yet?” Maxis asks tiredly after a while.

Hush does not respond at first, still looking around.

“Hush?”

She finally peers over to her Operator, just in time to catch her from teetering off the creature’s back tiredly. Hush scrambles over to resettle her firmly. Max doesn’t look like she would stay steady at this point, so Hush mounts Ruckus to sit behind her Operator. She wraps her arms around Max’s torso to keep her in place, holding the dingy reins in one fist. Trouvaille continues to plow along, albeit with more concerned looks thrown Max’s way.

“We still lost?” Max inquires tiredly, slurring her words.

Should Hush be honest, soothe the poor Operator’s mind so she can rest? Or should she be honest, something Max values?

Hush hesitates long enough for Max to notice.

“We’re still lost.” Max laments, slumping back.

What does Hush do? What can she do, besides keep trying to reorient themselves?

The answer comes to her instead-- over on a hill, the figure of one of the Ventkids idly kicking their legs while sitting on a K-Drive. Hush ushers Ruckus along, charging up the incline. Trouvaille takes to following the beast’s tracks, making the trek easier on his shorter legs.

“Oi, Metalhead! What’cha up ta?” The Ventkid greets perkily. Their cocky demeanor melts away when they catch sight of Max’s poor state. “Oh, jeez, she all good? You fellas lost?”

Hush nods as Ruckus impatiently stamps his feet.

“Right, fortuna’ly we’re right close to one’a the roads that leads straight back ta Fortuna, chek?”

Hush would heave a sigh of relief if she had the mind to.

“Go straight nort’west, ya hear?” The Ventkid points which way they mean. “An’ be quick abou’ it, yeah? She’s fun ta be ‘round, would hate for some’in awful ta happen to her.”

Hush gives a grateful nod, extending a fist for a customary fistbump that’s all-too-common among the Ventkids.

“Git goin’, then!” They shoo her away. “An’ check back when ya can!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHY DO VENTKIDS HAVE TO SPEAK LLIKE,,,, THAT...ITS SO HARD TO WRITE


	6. Bitter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max festers over a beating from a familiar face.

“She was at least _kinda_ nice the first time around,” Max mutters. “So much for first impressions being accurate.” 

Trouvaille heaves a worn-out sigh in agreement.

Hush glares daggers at a rock on the ground, hand to her head.

Max is still battered from their encounter earlier that day. Her cheek is blistered from where her rifle backfired (not that she blamed the rifle--why was she taking the rifle into account anyways? That...girl jammed it, that’s what went wrong). Her temple throbs from being clocked out by a coordinated fist. The rest of her just aches. Her ribs hurt when she breathes, her arms shake from fatigue, her legs trembled when she tried to stand.

So she sat.

She had managed to worm her way out from the Tenno’s capture, somehow. She wasn’t going to question how or what deity smiled down upon her for it to happen. An opening happened, she took it, and ran like hell.

Is Max mad she was beaten so easily? Is her dignity cracked, her self-esteem dampened? Yes; by the Queens _yes, she is bitter!_ Once again her tiny stature works against her!

Is that all she was bitter about? Hell, no.

Max is more furious about what happened to Hush and Trouvaille.

Hush still delicately holds a hand to the crushed part of her head, still spitting fits of sparks occasionally. A few little cuts and nicks are visible on her arms and torso, though only one was particularly worrying. Something they’d have to get to a Relay to fix, since the Grineer didn’t have the knowledge nor the technology to repair a Warframe. Relays are typically chock-full of those willing to help.

Trouvaille sits gingerly, keeping any weight or pressure off his side from where he’d been kicked. His breaths are shallow and labored, but he remains diligently on guard. Max didn’t doubt that he’d still go into action if they were threatened. 

Still, she fumes.

Oh, she’s in for it, she knows it. The first encounter, she at least got away unscathed and with the data they needed. This time, she had nothing but a sore body, a battered kubrow, and a sparking Warframe to prove anything had happened. Perfect opportunity for the other Hounds to finally unleash all the pent-up teasing and sneers they’d been holding back. Hell, Zus himself was probably going to give her a stern talking-to.

_“Maxis?”_ Her communications link crackles.

_Maybe if I don’t respond they’ll think I’m dead or something, and will leave me be, _she glowers.

As if reading her mind, the voice continues. _“I know you’re still kicking, kid. Don’t play the silent treatment with me.”_ It’s Dodge, thankfully._ “But I can also tell you’ve taken a beating. Is it anything serious that requires attention before we can get to you?”_

“Ah, no,” Max sighs. “Nothin’ too serious, I guess.”

_“You’re not exactly being reassuring. What’s wrong?”_

What’s wrong? What a question, Dodge. “Lots.”

_“We’re on our way to you three as we speak.” _He pauses. _“You’re expecting to get chewed out for failing, aren’t you?”_

“Yeah,” she murmurs.

_“Don’t be. Zus will understand; you going into something with that ‘frame and dog is different than us heading in with a whole squad. He won’t berate you. Will he fret? Hell yes. But no judgement.”_

The heavy weight on Max’s shoulders lifts a little. She heaves a sigh of relief. “But...what about--?”

_“If any of the other Hounds, or any Grineer in general, give you hassle for your origins, they’ll have some answering to do. Zus, Buffy, the other Hounds, and myself included. You are not a dragging weight to this squad. You are a team member. Get that through your thick skull.”_ Dodge’s voice is stern, but fatherly. _“Be there shortly. Don’t eat away at yourself while you wait.”_

The link cuts.


	7. Tender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max is still getting used to people being tender and nice to her.

“Why would you_ do_ that?” Her voice is not accusatory; it is thick with worry and hidden fear.

“Why is it different when I rush into something guns blazing?” Tinleah questions. “You do it constantly. How many times have I had to patch your sorry, reckless self up because you did something to be a ‘distraction’ so others could get out safe?”

“That’s different,” Maxis protests feebly, delicately patching up a scorch mark on Tinny’s arm from a plasma round. Solise stands by idly, piloting a Trinity Prime, in case any of the marks were too deep for topical care.

“How is it different?” she asks incredulously.

Max falters visibly, pausing in her actions of tending to her girl’s wounds. Why did she have to press into things like this? “It just is,” she mutters, blowing past the question.

“No, no, give me a legitimate reason,” Tin persists gently. “Why does it not matter when you chuck yourself into harm’s way?”

Refusing to answer, Max dabs antiseptic on another wound, another bandage donned to prevent infection. She shrugs her shoulders weakly, almost imperceptibly.

“Answer me, girl,” Tinleah prompts further.

“Because you’re irreplaceable,” Max whooshes out. “To me, to Solise, to a lotta people.”

“And you aren’t?”

Max shrugs again. 

“You honestly do not believe that’s true, do you?”

Max does not respond for a moment. “But I know you aren’t,” she protests.

“That does not mean _you’re_ replaceable!” Tinleah whooshes out hurriedly.

“A lotta people would say otherwise,” Max mutters lowly.

“Like who?”

“Like the Lotus, like a majority of the Tenno, like most of the Grineer higher-ups that see me as just a liability brought on by one of their own being a soft-hearted fool...I could really go on.” She wrings her hands angrily, a habit she had worked at to keep from fidgeting too much.

“You know who you’re not replaceable to?” Tin puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. “To me, and Hush, and Trouvaille, and Zus and Buffy and Dodge, and all the Hounds, and the kids in Cetus and Fortuna that love when you visit. _I could really go on,_” she parrots sarcastically. “I don’t know who beat it into your thick skull that you are forgettable, or who made you feel that way specifically, but they are wrong.”

Max glowers at the floor. What is she supposed to do? Respond narcissistically? 

“Come here, fool,” she’s dragged bodily up from where she’s kneeling next to Tinleah. Tin slings her into an embrace. “Get it through your noggin that all that’s not true.” She holds the shorter Operator tenderly. 

Max freezes, questioning what to do at this point. She’s used to shoulder-slugs and gentle knocks upside the head and rough nudges to show affection. What did she do here?

“If that’s really why you barge into things like that, I want you to know for sure that that mindset is wrong. Don’t throw yourself into harm’s way because you don’t think you’re as valuable as others are. That’s wrong. I love you, Hush and Trouvaille love you, the Hounds love you, too.” She ruffles Max’s scruffy hair. “I’ll remind you that as much as your fool-hearted self needs.”


	8. Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max weathers out a storm. Ruckus doesn't help.

“Hush, I literally _cannot_ cover you up any more than you already are,” Max huffs. “Trouvaille gets that, at least. A little water won’t kill you.”

Hush shakes her head furiously, hunkering down further under the tarp she’s huddled under. They had peeled it off Ruckus, who stood idly to the side, occasionally stamping a foot or flicking water off an ear. Max had taken his gear off to avoid saddle sores, and he reveled in the freedom granted. Still, he’s ‘tethered’: a rope dangles from his make-shift halter; he takes that as enough to be contained.

Thunder booms overhead. Max flinches subtly, Hush glowers even more, and Trouvaille lets out a ferocious snarl at the noise. The rain comes down in torrential sheets, positively soaking anything left unprotected.

Including Maxis.

But she didn’t mind. Sure, it cooled her off, but Grineer spaces always ran a little on the warm side, so it was easy enough to warm back up. Additionally, Trouvaille is always eager to lend some body heat when he isn’t sopping wet. 

Ruckus ambles over to a puddle that had accumulated with the heavy rain. He stoops over to nose at it curiously. He patters back and forth in the water, sloshing it around gently, before stopping in his tracks and staring at the three.

Hush’s look turns positively _murderous_. Her grip on the tarp tightens, making the fabric creak dangerously.

Yet, Ruckus peers back with a seemingly innocent glance. But Max knew that glance’ she knew what was coming. So did Hush.

And then it comes.

Ruckus unleashes a positive tidal-wave-sized wall of water by scraping a foreleg through the puddle, splashing water in a wide circle around him. The muddy water fans out widely.

Hush tries to prevent the soaking onslaught. She hunkers down under the tarp, completely snatching if off of Max and Trouvaille to cocoon herself, though it does no good. The water soaks through quickly, saturating the fabric and, as a result, the Warframe.

Trouvaille surrenders to the rain, electing to join Ruckus in the hell-raising.

Oh, Hush is downright done with things. She wraps herself entirely in the tarp, covering herself from head to toe. Ruckus continues splashing merrily, much to Max’s amusement.

Trouvaille has scampered to the puddle as well, running back and forth through the water as Ruckus continues his onslaught. Max is wheezing with how hard she’s laughing now, clutching a hand to her chest as she coughs and inhales rain drops.

Lightning crackles, warning of a thick, loud clap of thunder to follow.

“Okay, maybe we _shouldn’t_ play in the water during a heavy storm,” Max decides. “Ruckus, c’mere,” she clicks her tongue and the beast turns to approach.

“Yeah, we should head back to base. It doesn’t seem to want to let up any time soon.”


	9. Study

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and Tin help the Biz with some studying of wildlife.

“You sure you don’t mind a tagalong?”

“Nah, the company’s appreciated,” Max shrugs. Trouvaille shuffles through the deep snow around them, while Hush twiddles an arrow from her quiver between her fingers expertly.

“Cool. What exactly are we doing, then?” Tinleah asks from within Datura, the Saryn Prime tapping a foot idly.

“Helping the Biz with some research on Kubrodons,” Max chitters excitedly. “I’m helping him study the patterns they exhibit in migration in relation to the upsurge in Terra Corpus activity and shenanigans lately. See if it changes where they tend to live, breed, feed, things like that.”

“Oh, I getcha,” Tinleah says, only mildly confused.

“Soo, we need to find a Kubrodon to track first,” Max explains, pulling out a tablet with markers spanned across a map of the Vallis.

“And then?”

“Then we just follow it for a while. See where it goes, what it snacks on, what it does, stuff like that,” Max continues to ramble. “I have tracking chips we can hit them with using the tranquilizer rifle to make the whole thing a lot easier.”

“So, what am I here for?” Tin asks, curiously.

“Oh! I just, uh, thought you’d enjoy an outing. Y’know. Together.” Max falters in her excitement, quickly replaced by second-guessed doubt. “I thought some help would be nice, keeping an eye on my back, and hangin’ out with you is always nice, and Hush likes chillin’ with Datura, and...just, y’know.” She rubs the back of her neck nervously. “You can just hang out somewhere and fish or mine or nap, if you’d prefer. I wouldn’t mind any.”

“No, Max, that’s not why I asked,” Tinny scolds. “I asked so I’d know what I’m doing ahead of time.”

“Oh,” Max whooshes out in a rush of air.

“As if I’d pass up an opportunity to hang out with my one and only,” Tin coos, using Datura to carefully smush Max’s cheeks lovingly.

Hush rolls her head.

“T’nks,” the Operator manages to eek out.

“Anyways, let’s get this going.”

“Alright, ah,” the scruffy Tenno looks back to the tablet. “Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like we’ll have to go awfully far to find one. There’s one right near the caves to the east.”

They plod over, electing to walk instead of using a vehicle. Max preferred walking anyways. Actually, she preferred Ruckus, but could live without him, for now.

Once at the cave, Hush cloaks the group of them with an arrow. “Okay, I’ll tag this fella, then we let him get up and wander off, and we track him from a distance.”

Expertly, she lures the beast out of hiding, Hush hits it with a Sleep Arrow, and Max tags it while it is unconscious.

_ “Perfect, Outworlders!”_ Biz’s voice pipes up from their comms._ “Harmless and efficient, just as all things should be. Now, maintain a distance away, so you don’t accidentally infuence any habits.”_

“Roger that,” Tinleah answers on behalf of both of them.

“For the next hour or so, this dude is our new best friend.”


	10. Memes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this caused me physical pain to write

“Why do they just stand there like that after you hit them when they’re ‘asleep’?”

“Uh. What?”

Max elaborates. “You’ve never noticed that? Hush hits them with a Sleep Arrow to make things easier, then we both chip in at damaging the thing while it just kind of stands there menacingly.”

“I...guess I haven’t?” Tinleah utters.

“Well, then, when we inevitably attract the attention of our favorite adapting robo-farmers, I’ll have to show you what I mean.”

The mission on Lua is a simple one, as always: help sway the battle’s victory to one side, find Orokin caches along the way. Tinleah was_ supposed_ to act indifferent between Corpus and Grineer, but would somehow, always, miss a shot that was intended for a Trooper and land it on a MOA instead.

Max, fortunately, did not seem to notice, or at least didn’t bring it up.

“They’re sure taking their time, this go,” Max snorts from beside Hush, peering around a jagged chunk of plaster and chucking little stones to distract the distant Corpus units. Trouvaille crouches near them, awaiting a command.

“For real. They usually--” The lights flicker tellingly, the eerie reverberating groan resonates throughout the area. “Ah. Seems they can tell when they’re being spoken of.”

“Right on time.”

A pair of Oculysts descend, beginning their idle search of the area as they hum breathily and scan.

“Want me to just take a potshot at one, to alert them?” Tinleah asks, already scoping in on the blue ghostly figures.

Max doesn’t answer.

Max isn’t next to her anymore.

“For crying out loud, girl,” Tin groans, slinging herself back into Transference within Datura.

Max is sauntering up to the scouts casually, right behind their backs.

“What are you _doing?_” Tinny hisses to her.

“They can’t hurt anything,” Max shrugs. “Apparently they can’t hear well, either.”

“Okay, cool. What happens when they turn around and find you? What then?”

One of the Oculysts spins on its spindly feet, almost taken aback at the lifeform behind it. It meticulously begins to scan Max, as it does with all things it finds.

“I, uh,” Max pauses. A blue outline of her form appears, showing that the scan is progressing.

So what does she do, when faced with two scouts that could readily summon hardy, adapting warriors that can deal deadly damage?

_ “This is Maxis we’re talking about,”_ Solise laments, seeming to have read her mind.

“Maxis_, get out,_” Tin huffs exasperatedly.

Hush seems to know what’s going on. Of course she does, it’s her Operator. If it was possible, Hush would have a deadpan, tired look in her eyes. She still seems to convey the feeling as she waves a hand in her direction, signaling that the point is useless to push.

Indeed, what does Max do?

She stupidly crooks her arms skyward at an angle, covering her face as her head tilts down.

_ “Oh, by the Void, Tinleah, you couldn’t have chosen better?_” Solise chides with no real venom in her voice. 

Hush doesn’t react. She’s used to it. Trouvaille seems to be read to leap in if necessary. Tinleah is absolutely dumbfounded.

A pale blue outline of Max’s body forms in the air as the Oculyst finishes its scan. Max skitters back to her friends and Warframe hurriedly as they rocket off into the sky.

“Anyways, yeah. Those dudes will stand there like this,” she holds her arms straight out to her side in a perfect ‘t’ shape. “And they just chill until you kill them or they wake up.” As if she hadn’t just done that. 

“You are simply…” _Baffling? Stupid? Careless? Reckless? Moronic? _“Astonishing. You know that? You just dabbed at a Sentient. You know how long it’s been since the Origin System has seen a dab?”

“Not that long.”


	11. City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max visits Cetus.

Max enjoyed going to Cetus, occasionally. Especially when it was on her own terms. She wouldn’t turn down a mission requiring her to eavesdrop throughout the city to gather intel, but she did not enjoy it. The people of Cetus are friends to her; she doesn’t want to betray the trust they had gained with her. Hush enjoys it as well, seeing as she eagerly shows the scampering children various tricks and how to twirl arrows and sticks with her fingers.

Fortunately, that isn’t the case this time around.

Cetus is a city of merchants, and a portion of those merchants sold agricultural-related goods. Livestock is a big part of Cetus’ livelihood, so it would fit that there were numerous farmers among the city.

It worked out in Max’s favor, really. Plenty of goods for Ruckus and Trouvaille that are easily obtained and hidden from prying eyes. One of those things she needed is food for Ruckus: grass is perfect for when they’re out and about on the Plains, but it didn’t make up for all the nutrition Ruckus needed. Some of the merchants sold additional supplements for livestock, so Max eagerly takes advantage of the opportunity.

“Ah-ha, Tenno! Welcome again!” A rough voice greets her. She turns to see a familiar face, standing within a stall with goods stacked around him.

“Hello,” she replies warmly. She wants to greet with her usual ‘howdy!’, but the pattern of speech would be too recognizable outside. Hush follows closely to keep track of any possible slips of the tongue.

“The usual, then? For the big beast?”

“Indeed,” she nods. Trouvaille stands on his rear legs to peer up at the seller, front paws braced on the stand in front of him. “Mind your manners, boy,” she scolds lightly.

“No worries! A little additional greeting from a four-legged friend never hurts,” the merchant pipes. He works at baling the grass-like fibers autonomously, bunching them up and wrapping them in thick cord. “Three bales will be enough, as usual, yes?” They ask after a pause.

“Mhm,” she hums. “Between my Warframe and I, we can get them back onto my...Orbiter.” _Maxis, shut up before you actually slip up_, a voice chides.

“Rightio!” He carries the bales around to stack in front of the three of them one at a time. 

“The price is the same as always as well?”

“Correct.” Max fumbles over the amount of required credits to the stall owner. “Many thanks to you, Tenno! We all hope to see you again soon!” He smiles brightly

I hope to see you all as well, but not in the circumstances that will probably bring us to meet. Hek has been ramping up Ghoul production for a massive siege at Cetus’ gate, and of the city as a result. She was helpless to do anything about it, besides cause a little setback occasionally. Should she alert them now?

Hush seems to catch on to her thinking, gently knocking her shoulder and shaking her head slightly.

“Thank you, friend,” she mumbles distractedly. “Yes, we’ll be sure to stop by when we need more.” She forces a smile on her face that she hopes doesn’t look too false. She stoops over to pick up one bale, while Hush grabs the other two as they head for the docks.

“Hush, I seriously can’t keep doing this,” she whooshes out as they wait for pickup. “I can’t. I can’t. I care about these people and kids, but I can’t just turn around and change sides again. I won’t be welcome on either. I know Zus would sort of understand, but the others won’t. It’s just…” she groans, covering her face with her hands. “I don’t know what to do.”

Trouvaille whines from beside her, trying to vy for her attention. She absently goes to scratch one of his floppy ears.

Hush sidles closer to her Operator silently.

“I’m indirectly going to be aiding in the absolute destruction of this city and its people. The families and kids and Hai Luk and Konzu and Suumbat and Nakak,” she’s frantic now. “I can’t do that. _I can’t do that_.”

Hush wraps an arm around Maxis’ shoulders comfortingly.

“I can’t _do this_.”


	12. Obsess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max obsesses over Trouvaille just a bit.

“He’s my little boy. I’ll obsess over him as much as I please.”

“There's such a thing as too much, Maxis.”

“Spare me, then. He deserves it,” she coos to the burly kubrow in her arms.

“He’s a trained, lethal, threatening presence,” Dodge argues.

“He’s just a baby,” Max counters firmly, flopping the canine’s ears rapidly.

“He’s a killer,” the medic rushes.

“He’s my _boy!_” Max cradles the kubrow like a small child in her arms. “Right?”

Trouvaille wriggles in excitement at the attention.

“No, Maxis.”

“Yeah, he is!” She babies. “Who’s my lil’ man? My lethal lil’ man? My dang diggin’ doggie?”

“The point I’m trying to make is that if you obsess over him too much, you’ll forget that he is technically a weapon,” Dodge huffs.

“I’m not going to just quit doting on him because someone sees him as a weapon or a liability,” she chides. “He’s saved my life plenty of times before. Especially in the Derelicts. I wouldn’t be here without him. So forgive me if I get overly-lovey on him.”

“I just don’t want you to be incapacitated if he’s hurt,” Dodge admits. “He’s hardy and sturdy, sure, but he isn’t immortal. Someday he could be hurt in a way that a little luck and hope can’t fix.”

“I’d rather not think about that.” Max is quiet now. “I get your point, really, I just...don’t want to think about it happening.”

“I understand,” a large palm claps her shoulder. “But keep it in the back of your mind.” Dodge pauses, then sighs. “Lay it on me. The whole nine yards. The backstory. Let the obsession flow.”

“Oh!” Max perks up immediately. “Trouvaille is the first kubrow I bred back on my Orbiter. Wreaked hell on a kubrow den on E Prime, felt awful about it for a long time, but got the egg I needed. Incubated it, raised it, and boom! A little Trouvaille appeared!” Max smushes his face in her hands. “Right?”

Trouvaille stares blankly, still simply excited to have attention.

“But yeah, he’s stuck by my side ever since, through thick and thin.”

“Loyalty is a valuable trait in companions such as he,” Dodge muses. “And you seem to know how to appreciate it.”

“I guess,” Maxis shrugs. “It’s just...natural. He watches my back, I watch his, and then I thank him for it by obsessing over him,” she sneers sarcastically to Dodge.

“Imagine if Zus acted this way about his troops,” Dodge snaps. “What if he babied every trooper he had? What would that be like for him, and for us?”

“I mean. He already babies me,” she answers.

“You’re insufferable,” Dodge snarls with no malice. 

“And yet, you’re still here.” She pauses. “You and my_ good, handsome, trusty, talented, lovey-dovey, little boy._”


	13. Waiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waiting is the worst part of a mission.

The ride aboard the dropship is far more turbulent than anything the Galleons offered.

It jostled, and rumbled, and swayed back and forth. Fortunately, everyone is strapped in, safety harnesses around their torsos holding them firmly in place.

Even Hush has one wrapped around her, per her insistence. 

Trouvaille is wrapped firmly in a tight grip by Max._ ‘We absolutely do not have to strap the kubrow in,’_ Zus has sighed. _‘Just hold on to him. He’ll be fine.’_

Hush couldn’t blame him, though. There’s only so much you can do...for a canine. Even Max’s protests have a limit on reasonability. 

“How long ‘til we get down there?” Max pipes up over the ever-present rumbling from turbulence.

“A few minutes,” Dodge gruffs. 

“An’ what are we doin’?”

“Defending a Relic.”

“Cool.”

A pause.

“How long do we have to wait?”

“A few minutes,” the medic growls tersely. By the Queens, he loves the kid, but her chattiness sometimes got the best of her.

Hush knew the feeling.

Max goes to open her mouth again, likely to just ramble excitedly, though Hush nudges her shoulder and shakes her head subtly, pointing to the weary medic.

“Are you ready, then?” she asks Hush.

The Warframe nods lightly. When wasn’t Hush ready for action? It’s literally what she was created for. Her fingers itch to be pulling the drawsting of her bow, firing arrows into the fray and helping her squadmates.

“‘Course you are,” Max laughs to herself. “When ain’t you.”

“Stop saying that,” Dodge juts in. “‘Ain’t’ isn’t a word. It’s unbecoming.”

“Words is words,” Max argues lightheartedly. “‘Grineer’ isn’t technically a word but we made it one.”

“Don’t start in with me, child.”

“Puppy boy, are you ready?” She turns her attention to the mutt in her lap.

Trouvaille wriggles with excitement at the sound of her voice, stubby tail wagging furiously and tongue lolling. In the dim light of the dropship, his brown spots are barely visible on his black coat.

“Nearing dropzone,” the pilot chimes overhead.

“Ready yourself, kiddo,” Dodge huffs. “The rest of you, ready yourselves as well. We’re nearing ground level.”

Oh, Max loves this part of a mission. Dropping out of the ship, making a heroic landing on the ground, and blasting in to the battle. Fighting former-fellow Tenno had a different degree of severity than fighting dim-witted Corpus units, but she still did not hold back. They abandoned you. They left you. They did not care. Show them no mercy.

And she doesn’t. Her and Hush are the squad’s best bet against Warframes on the other side of the fray. Trouvaille rushes along beside her, Hush easily keeping stride with Max’s hurried gait.

She nears the outpost under attack. The armored vault is surrounded by Tenno and Tusk Grineer alike, guns blazing and voices shouting. Max hefts her Argonak up, Hush readies her Artemis Bow, Trouvaille prepares to slink in to cause a distraction.

Until Max sees the familiar color scheme, on the familiar Saryn Prime, using the same familiar weapons as someone she knows.

_Oh, dear. We’re all in for it now._


	14. Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some fun in the Vallis.

Trouvaille, being the canine he is, gets rowdy if left unattended to.

So he _loves_ it when Tinleah and Max hang out.

“I am trying so hard to find it in me to love you.” Tineah’s voice is deadpan, emotionless.

Oh, Hush knew he was overjoyed at causing this agony. He’s plastered in sludge from playing along the edge of the coolant lakes of the Orb Vallis. The fur on his legs and underside are matted and sopping wet, slimy and dripping. The cold doesn’t seem to bother him in the slightest right now, as he darts back and forth, tearing through the snow and leaving tunnel trails in his wake.

The girls are aimlessly wandering the vastness of the Venus landscape, seeing as they both had the rare chance of downtime between missions. Datura pads along on the other side of Tinleah, while Ruckus plods along between the four of them, packed with blankets and fishing spears and tranq rifles. 

“You can surely find it,” Max assures as her kubrow barrels between Ruckus’ legs, flinging snow up into the air in clumps and tiny blizzards. Ruckus doesn’t react, being as lenient as he is, but Tinny recoils and covers her face. “He’s such a lovable little boy, right?”

“I’m trying_ really, really_ hard to find it in me _to love you, Trouvaille,” _Tinleah grits out, digging snow out of her hair.

“He’s jus’ playin’,” Max defends. “Sometimes you gotta just be rowdy, y’know? And this is one of those times for him.”

“At least you love him,” Tinny grunts.

“Would you still love me if I acted like that?”

“‘If?’ Max? _‘If?_’” she asks incredulously.

When a snowball hits her shoulder with a_ fwap!_, coating her shoulder in fluffy white.

“If,” Max nods, scampering away behind Ruckus and Hush.

“That’s not fair!” Tinleah argues. “Ruckus is basically a mobile wall. He won’t care if I pelt him with snow. He’ll probably love it. But you can snap your fingers and he’ll go berserk plowing me over,” she whines.

“I would never do that,” Max answers honestly, hand over her heart.

“You wou--” _Fwap!_ “Maxis!”

“Oh, that weren’t me that time,” Max snorts. Hush giggles, airily trotting around to join Max on the other side of Ruckus. Trouvaille is still tearing around them in furious circles, even more amped up at the excitement. 

“You’ve forced my hand,” Tinny answers vaguely. “Datura, join me in battle.”

The Saryn Prime stoops over at the same time as her Operator, building perfect snowballs that she hands straight to Tinleah, creating a sort of assembly-line of snow.

Tin begins to pelt them with her provided snow, smacking against Ruckus, who truly does not care in the slightest, though Max and Hush duck behind him.

“You’ve started a war, Hush!” Max shouts. “She wasn’t that mad when I threw one! Then you did!”

Hush shrugs innocently. She may be the Devil’s advocate in some situations, but that didn’t mean she had to admit up to it.


	15. Scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An eventful night on the Plains.

Nights on the Plains are, for the most part, uneventful. The occasional pair of Vomvalysts wander up to the Eidolon Lures deployed at the camps, but smarter Tusk Grineer knew how to ignore them to avoid conflict.

When the Hounds are present, however, it’s anything _but _uneventful.

Hush takes potshots at Vomvalysts with her Artemis Bow, downright putting them to sleep if they’re finicky enough for her to miss once or twice. Max waits idly with her crafted amp at the ready if any get too close.

The wildlife around them seems to spring to life at the sun’s fall. Crickets, frogs, fish, all sorts of living things rise and sing and jump and live. One of the things Maxis would do is wander down to Gara Toht Lake to chase frog-like critters or to fish for the rarer Norgs; being how comically they appeared, they seemed to be popular in Cetus.

But with the fall of night, meant the rise of the Eidolons.

The Teralyst rises out of a body of water in a brilliant pillar of blue light, sounding off with a ghostly-yet-robotic bellow before wandering aimlessly as it searches for its brethren.

“Listen, if you want to farm Cores, go for it. Just...for the sake of my sanity, and everyone else’s sanity, stay safe. Understood?”

Max gives a salute to Dodge. “Roger that, bud.”

“Stay cloaked, stay hidden, stay out from under the thing’s feet,” Dodge lists off commandments. “If it gets angered, leave. Don’t stay near it.”

“Understood.”

“I mean it.” Dodge stares straight at her. “I would rather you be safe than sorry. It’s not exactly easy to heal wounds caused by a giant, ancient, semi-sentient beast.”

Which leads to where she is now. Hush has herself and Trouvaille cloaked, Max prowls around in the Void safely, distracting Vomvalysts to follow her towards Hush where they’re looted and then quickly dispatched. If done correctly, the Teralyst won’t even notice anything’s happening. It’ll continue wailing, and stomping, and occasionally screeching for the sake of being loud and lonely.

Until company arrives.

Hush urgently taps Maxis’ shoulder to grab her attention.

At first, Max brushes her off.

But Hush is persistent. 

“Gods, Hush, wha--” Before something slams into the ground near them, making her yelp and recoil away. Quickly after, three other bodies slam into the ground around the Teralyst. Tenno? On an Eidolon hunt this late? It appeared to be the case. They disengage their Archwing Launchers and immediately step out of their Warframes and begin chipping away at the beast’s shields.

Hush bodily yanks Max away as she screams when one of the Tenno notices she’s there and turns their amp on her. She dodges, but Hush catches her, and begins to run. Trouvaille blasts past them, darting ahead, hiding behind a rocky outcrop.

The Teralyst’s cries grow angered and pained the further away they get. Loud cracks of sniper fire occasionally interrupt, signaling the takedown of a synovia, before the thing screams in agony before stumbling to its feet to attempt to retaliate.

Hush stops behind the outcrop next to Trouvaille, far enough away that they’re not in danger, but still close enough that the ground rumbles beneath them from the Teralyst’s attacks being wrought. 

_ “Maxis?” _Dodge’s tinny voice cuts through her panicked thoughts_. “I hear a commotion. What’d you do?”_

“_I_ didn’t do_ anything,_” she snaps.

_ “Forgive me for being wary of believing so. What happened, then?”_

“A squad of Tenno showed up to capture the Teralyst.”

_ “That’s what I figured. They raided a few outposts for Lures not too long ago. Are you okay?”_

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

_ “Good. Get your ass back here, now. Odds are they’re planning on bringing out the other two beasts at some point, and I really don’t want you dancing with Gantulysts or Hydrolysts._”

“Understood.” She turns to Hush. “We’ve got to head back. Dodge-man’s orders. Said that they’re probably gonna bring the other ‘lysts out and he makes a good point about not wanting to be near them.”

Hush nods. Trouvaille sneezes.


	16. Wild

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shenanigans in the Vallis.

“That’s a wild animal, Maxis.”

“Yeah.”

“You can’t keep it.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a _wild animal_.” Tinleah’s voice is exasperated. “God, your heart’s huge, but sometimes I question the size of your brain.”

“I’m wounded,” Max holds a hand over her heart in faux pain. “How could you say such a thing, to your own girlfriend?”

“Easily. She tries to convince me to bring a_ feral raptor_ home.”

The Sawgaw perched on Max’s forearm squawks and flaps its wings wildly. Tinleah recoils, shielding herself, but Max laughs lightly at the outburst. It’s just a run-of-the-mill Flossy Sawgaw, nothing particularly notable about it, except for a nicked wing that Biz will likely want to check out. 

“Y’think so, bud?” 

“You’re talking to a bird, Max. A bird.”

“I’m valuing his opinion.”

The Sawgaw chirps loudly.

“I agree,” Max nods sagely. “Tinny should lighten up. You took the words right out of my mouth.”

Hush rolls her head. Datura rubs her temples, standing next to the Ivara Warframe, before glaring at her. _This is **your** Operator, this is **your** problem._

Trouvaille sniffs the Sawgaw carefully, jumping back at every movement it makes. When his snout touches a clawed foot, it screeches at him, pecking and flapping its wings again. He jumps back so hurriedly that he trips over his own hind legs, barreling into the other Operator.

“Look, even Trouvaille doesn’t like it,” Tin argues feebly. “You can’t seriously be considering keeping it as some sort of exotic pet.”

“Think about it, though,” Max’s eyes sparkle with mischief. “We could use him for recon. Nobody would notice a measly Sawgaw flying overhead as being a threat. I could train him to grab stuff. Or to scare some Corpus. I’m sure he’d love to get some revenge on the folks at the Enrichment Center.” She ruffles the feathers on the bird’s head with a finger.

“I’m...sure it would,” Tinleah is taken aback. “But...uh…”

“You realize I’m joking. I’ve been joking this entire time, Tinny. I’m not considering bringing a wild raptor back to base with a bunch of rowdy, loud dudes cramped in some barracks.” Max snorts.

“You make it sound so legitimate,” the purple-clad Operator huffs.

“You think I’m stupid enough to do something like that?”

“Yes,” she answers deadpan. “Do you recall how you react to tranqing Kubrodons? How you call them ‘cute’, and ‘absolute units of love’, and ‘just misunderstood’?”

“But they are,” Max spits back. “They’re just...doing their thing. And people got involved.”

Oh, Tinleah knows better than to get Max started on this rant. She knows how deeply Max cares about the wildlife here, just as Biz does, and how she would sooner task herself with peeling the miserable skin off of every Corpus unit deployed here than admit defeat for the animals’ sake.

“Anyways, I kid. I’ll send him to Biz like usual. He’s just so affable,” she continues, scratching under the bird’s chin.

“Cool. I’m sure Biz will love him too.” Tinleah grunts. “Hurry up, though. The longer we stand still the colder I get.”

“Hush, you.”


	17. Safety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quiet moment help her feel safe.

]

“Solise, you ever notice how...obstructive Max gets when she’s in the Orbiter?”

“I suppose I do not. What do you mean?”

“Look at her,” Tinleah emphasizes. “She’s like a sunning kavat.”

And it’s true-- Max is stretched out on the floor of the Transference room, Trouvaille curled up at her side. Her legs splay haphazardly while her arms rest under her head of scruffy hair. Hush sits propped up against the wall next to her, idly fiddling with some little tool she’d stolen for the sake of entertainment.

“It’s likely because she feels safer here,” Solise chimes.

“Safer?”

“At ease,” the cephalon explains further. “Less to worry about.”

“Sh’s righ’,” Max mumbles from the floor.

“Eavesdropping is not a very becoming trait of you, Maxis,” Solise scolds. 

“‘S not eavesdropping if y’re sayin’ it clear ‘s day,” she slurs.

“Hush, you,” Tinleah scoffs to her.

Hush looks up to her. 

“No, not you, Hush,” Tinleah elaborates.

Max snorts in a tired laugh, curling around Trouvaille further. The kubrow revels in it, resting his head on top of his master’s lovingly.

“But she is right,” she answers more clearly, now that her face isn’t muffled by her arms.

“You feel safe here?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Max seems genuinely taken aback at the question.

“What’s so different here than where you normally rest and sleep and train and whatnot?”

“I’m not exactly at risk of ‘sudden evaluation’, or drills, or impromptu meeting from higher-ups, or other soldiers in lousy moods...I could go on and on.” Max idly flicks Trou’s floppy ear.

“You mean--”

“I feel like I can genuinely relax without being suddenly startled awake to be deployed or ridiculed,” Max cuts her off. “Shocking, no?”

“But...here? Of all places?”

“‘Here’, with my girlfriend and her cephalon and our frames and companions, on a smaller ship we control ourselves? Yes, ‘here’.”

“You’re snarky when you’re tired,” Tinleah gruffs defeatedly.

“It’s the love seeping through. Raw love. Unrestrained. Unfettered. Un-held back.”

_ “Un-held back._”

“Uh-huh.” Max twists to prop her head on Trouvaille’s broad belly now. “C’mere. It’s lonely down here. Hush is no good company when she’s occupied.”

Hush throws a half-hearted glare towards her Operator, but Max sticks her tongue out at the Warframe in response.

Tinleah delicately pads over to sit next to Maxis on the floor. Max stays leaned on Trouvaille, though she plunks her legs in Tinny’s lap.

“Oh, my God, this is the life,” Max sighs.

“Get your disgusting feet off of me,” Tin groans. “You’re so gross.”

“But charming, no?”

“No.”

“Sure,” Max says sarcastically. “You’re so quick to sing praises when I’m not around, but not a single kind word straight to my face. I’m hurt.”

“As if you need any more ego.”

“I don’t have an ego,” she snaps back lightly. “I just have a little bit of appreciation left for myself behind being constantly berated by superiors and fellow soldiers and my own gal.”

“Hm,” Tinny hums, bending over to ruffle Max’s hair. Max squints her eyes shut at the onslaught, though Trouvaille remains as still as a corpse.

“Ugh, why?” Max goes to straighten her hair back into place.

“Because I know it annoys you,” Tin pipes happily.

“Trouvaille,” Max snaps. At the sound of his name, the kubrow springs to attention.

“No--”

“Git’er, bud.”

“No--!”

Trouvaille throws himself upon the other Operator bodily, pinning her to the floor. 

“You _mutt!_” She shrieks. “You little betrayer! We were friends!”

“‘Were’,” Max clarifies. “He’s my baby boy over any friendships he has.”

Tinleah huffs from underneath the pile of fur. “Whatever.”

Max finally relents after a few minutes. “At ease,” she murmurs, and in a flash, Trouvaille retreats to sit at her side proudly.

Max takes her turn to plop down next to Tin.

“You are_ so_ lucky I love you, you know?” Tin rests her head on Max’s unarmored shoulder.

“Uh-huh. I know.”


	18. Childhood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Tenno didn't exactly have a typical childhood.

“Reckless.”

“Mhm.”

“No regard for her own well-being.”

“Yup.”

“Unironically the most childish soldier I’ve ever had to deal with.”

“Preaching to the choir.”

Dodge snorts incredulously.

“What are you snorting at?”

“You’re talking about an actual child. There’s irony laced throughout your sentences, whether you want there to be or not.” The medic chides.

“‘An actual child,’” Zus snarls. “She’s, what, in her late twenties?”

“Consider though,” Buffy intervenes. “She didn’t exactly have a childhood.”

“Of course she did. Didn’t she?”

“Not for long, if at all,” Dodge shrugs. “I don’t know exactly how old the Tenno were when they boarded the Zariman Ten Zero, or how long they were left aboard it with their parents being their new-found enemies.”

“And then the cryosleep,” Buffy mentions. “We don’t know how long that was either.”

“Do the Tenno...age, during all this?” Zus asks, befuddled.

“Based on her growth in both stature and mentality, they did. They just never truly got to enjoy being a kid.”

“As if that excuses her being reckless now?” Zus grunts.

“Cut her some slack,” Buffy slugs his commander’s shoulder. “Let ‘er be a kiddo once in a while. She always straightens up and comes back to her senses.”

“For once, Buffy proves a valid point,” Dodge relents. “Maxis never had a chance to burn off all that pent-up energy, and now that she’s awake and active, it’s probably bursting at the seams to break free.”

“I just wish she was more...ugh, considerate,” the commander sighs, resting his head in a palm defeatedly. “I don’t mind that she ‘plays’, because she’s smart about when she does it. It’s how that gets me.”

Buffy is criminally silent.

“Yes, he’s talking about you,” Dodge snarks.

“I’m nothing if not a good influence,” the weapons specialist argues. “I tell her to stay safe and all that.”

“Besides,” Dodge tries to derail the argument before it got too heated. “Lately she’s been spending time with that Tinleah girl to blow off energy. She seems smart and reasonable, at the least.”

“Tin’s smart and sensical, yes, but…” Zus trails off.

“But?”

“Maxis shouldn’t even be meeting with her in the first place.”

“But she is,” Buffy shrugs.

“What I’m saying is, sometime, there’s going to the turmoil because of it. And we’re going to be caught in the middle of it,” Zus groans dejectedly.

“You’ve no faith in either of those two,” Dodge quips. “They’re both smart, even if one of them has all the braincells the other lacks. They’re not stupid. They’re not actual children, in their kid years. They’re young adults, almost technical adults. They know what they’re risking and what they’re doing.”

“I worry,” he huffs. “All we need is one disgruntled Hound or blabbering side-eye to notice them together and we’re done for. Her, us, the Hounds, all of it.” He rubs his face tiredly.

“Again, you worry too much.” Dodge smirks.

“_Listen_ to me.” Zus snarls. “Enough of the faux-father bullshit. _Yes_, I have a soft spot for her. _Yes_, I want to keep her safe. But I can’t exactly keep her safe if we’re incarcerated or she’s captured or _dead_.”

The other two go deathly silent as he continues.

“Higher-ups won’t take lightly to someone they were reluctant to let among their ranks in the first place turning out to be a turncoat, in their eyes. If they don’t kill her on the spot, they won’t exactly make her life easy.” Zus clenches a fist angrily. “And she doesn’t really have anywhere to go after this. She can’t exactly meander back under the Lotus’ command after everything that’s happened.” 

“So we keep her safe. Right?” Buffy queries.

“It’s not as simple as _babysitting her a little more strictly!_” Zus slams a fist down. “We’re risking _our_ lives, and_ her_ life, by even having her here. If something happens, I’m not the only one that’s going to take a fault! The entire squadron will! They don’t exactly see us as ‘irreplaceable’, now, do they?! They could always just whip up another batch of clones or two to make up for our absence, and forget we were ever an issue.”

“Zus--”

“What I’m saying is I worry for her! For us! Yes, my friends and soldiers! I don’t want to be discarded like unusable salvage because we had a trait as faulty as ‘caring’ or ‘letting a child have a belated childhood’.”

“Zus--”

_ “What?_” the commander snarls outright.

“Is he grumpus again?” Max’s voice rings through the barracks. Trouvaille’s nails click on the metal floor, and Hush’s footsteps sound of similarly. 

“He is,” Buffy sighs. “Better come comfort him.”

“I am not a _child_ that requires comforting,” Zus growls again. 

“Bring the whole armada. He’s really grumpy this time.”

“Agreed,” Dodge pitches in solemnly. 

“You? I thought you of all would be on my side,” Zus laments.

“Make it ASAP, kid, he’s losing it,” Buffy frets dramatically.

Max patters in, Hush and Trouvaille in tow. “What’s up? Y’look...I dunno, worried.”

“Nothing important,” Zus grunts. “Go back to your bunk.”

“Well, now I’m not going to.” Max shrugs as she strolls in. Hush stays leaned against the door jamb. “For real, what’s up?”

“Typical dad-like worrying. You know how it is,” Buffy waves a hand.

“Again?” Max frowns. “I’m not a little kid that needs to be babysat. I can handle myself.”

“Can you, though?” Zus asks, though not accusingly.

“Yes,” Max responds with a level head. “I know you like to think I’m some rowdy, reckless hellion with no consideration for danger, but trust me, between you three and Tinleah, I’ve had a little bit of common sense pounded into my skull recently.”

“Just. Promise us one thing. One big thing.”

“Okay, I guess? Shoot.” She crosses her arms and waits.

“If we tell you to get lost someday, just do it. It’s not going to be because we’re fed up with you. It will never be that. If we’re telling you to leave and not come back, it probably hurts all of us just as much as it pains you. But it’d be for your own safety. Understood?”

Max goes silent, teeth likely working a lip beneath her facemask worriedly.

“Understood?” Zus prompts again.

“Understood,” she answers meekly.

“Good. Go lay down. I’m sure you’re worn out from being rowdy and rambunctious with your girl over the day.”

“D’you honestly think we just, what, fist-fight each other all day? We have gal time,” Max snorts as she turns.

“Sure._ ‘Gal time’,_” Buffy parrots with quotations.

Max immediately flushes. “Gods, I_ hate you all_ sometimes. But I do still love you,” she clarifies as she storms out.


	19. Clean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max gets dirty, as if mud is simply attracted to her.

“How does one girl, one kubrow, and one Warframe get so goddamned filthy in the span of 7 minutes?”

Max shrugs from beneath the onslaught. Hush works at scrubbing herself clean, an old rag soaked with water from the lake to rub most of the worst mud off. Trouvaille sits a good distance away, well aware of what’s incoming for him.

“Did you literally just...roll in it? Is that what you did?”

“Naw,” Max protests. “It’s from chasin’.”

“‘Chasing’.”

“Chasing,” Max confirms. “Chasing after a group of Terra Crewmen trying to go after a Ventkid out playing. I weren’t gonna let that happen,” she snorts.

“Wasn’t,” Tin chides.

“Whatever. What ‘m sayin’ is it was in the aftermath of a noble cause.”

“Noble causes can still be stupid.”

Max deflates. “You just don’t let me have anything fun. What kind of girlfriend are you?”

Tinleah thwaps the back of her scraggy head lightly with her hand. “The kind that thinks their girl should treat herself with some dignity, instead of running around like a Horrasque fresh out of the dirt.”

“Gods, I get it from the guys at home, I try to escape by coming here, and I still get chewed out,” she sighs dramatically. “I cain’t win.”

“Can’t.”

“Please. I know how to speak,” Max scoffs.

“The act like it.”

Max huffs, blowing some of her bangs out of her face as Tinleah continues furiously scrubbing dirt and grime off her armor.

“Honestly, Maxis, I find it hard to believe you got this filthy just through a chase.” Tinleah picks at a clump of dirt caught in a crevice.

“There may have been other factors.”

“Other? Factors?”

“Might’ve been.”

“Like what?”

“Nothin’ major. Don’t worry ‘bout it.” She waves a hand dismissively.

In the blink of an eye, Tin goes from caring to threatening. She snaps up, twisting one of Maxis’ arms behind her back uncomfortably. “Like what?” she hisses.

“F’r crying out loud,” Max groans. “Fine. We may have run into an Orb Mother while we was out.”

“‘May’?”

“But we lived, and that’s what matters.”

“Which Mother?”

“Exploiter.”

“You had a run-in with the Exploiter Orb and didn’t think to let me know? Or to let me come help? _None of that?_”

Datura glares to Hush now, sharing the distraught anger. Hush shrinks and shrugs at the scrutiny.

“Listen! First y’have to give me m’arm back,” Max pleads. “What good is a clean arm if it’s damn_ dislocated._” Tin lets go of the arm, and Max yanks it back to herself, rubbing her shoulder. “Anyways, I went with the very authentic plan I always deploy when Hush and I are in trouble.”

“You wandered around in Prowl for thirty minutes?”

“We wandered around in Prowl for thirty minutes,” Max nods.

“God, I am simply astonished you’ve somehow managed to survive this long,” Tinleah growls.

“It’s a talent.”

“A talent you’re damn lucky you have. If you die out doing something stupid,” Tin grabs Max’s face in her palms, “I will resurrect you myself so I can kill you with my own hands for making me worry.”

“Th’nks,” Max mumbles from a squished face. “I’ll try not t’die so I won’t have t’die again.”


	20. Rival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's an established rival now.

_ “You’re to show no mercy.”_

Someone’s been causing a riot on Ceres, for lord knows what reason. Why anyone would voluntarily show up to that acid-pit, sludge-world of a planet baffles Maxis. Orokin Cells, maybe? She didn’t know. She didn’t care.

She is annoyed, that’s what she is.

A few of the Hounds had been there for a meeting when the troublemaker first landed. Fortunately, none were fatally wounded, but they got their fair share of bullet scorches and blade slices.

And the tell-tale pits of armor, corroded away by only one possible culprit.

“I cain’t believe I was tryin’ to be friends with her,” Max mutters as her, Hush, and Trouvaille walk the corridors. “I know expecting her to drop everything was a long shot, but damn.” She drags a gloved palm over her face wearily. “That was dumb of me, thinkin’ she’d change her ways because she thought I was ‘cute’.” She scoffs at herself. 

Trouvaille whines at the self-loathing radiating off her. Hush intervenes, thwapping her shoulder in a kind gesture.

“Y’r right,” Max sighs. “May as well get it over with.”

The further they progress, the more bodies they come across. At first it was occasional, a few slices or bullet rounds in a torso. But the frequency rose dramatically. Even the idle Drudge workers weren’t spared from the onslaught. Bodies lay around like crude, horrible reminders of what she’s here for. 

Nearing one of the refinery areas, she heard the ruckus. Gunfire--not Grinner, no, this was a Tenno weapon.

“Ready, then?” she asks warily. Trouvaille wraps around her once, brushing against her legs comfortingly, then slinks into a crouch. Hush throws a pair of finger guns her way before bringing out Artemis Bow.

“Let’s get it over with, I guess.” She didn’t want to attack this girl. She liked her. Her wits were sharp and skills honed from practice, but she also couldn’t just sit by as the gal slaughtered her comrades.

Hush fires off a volley of arrows as a distraction to start them off. An expertly-placed dashwire gives her a vantage point, high above the commotion.

The Saryn Prime flinches at the piercing rounds, but does not slow. Her head whips to look at Hush, who’s readying another round.

“You?!” the girl’s voice emanates from the frame.

Hush waves cheekily before firing again. 

The girl--Tinleah, may as well know her name right if they’re going to be regular mortal enemies--huffs and snarls. “You dumbasses. You absolute morons,” she shrieks, readying her Tiberon Prime to fire.

“I don’t take kindly to name-calling,” Max chimes from cover.

“Shut your mouth! I came here because _you weren’t here!_”

Max falters.

“Yes! You heard me!” the gun spits burst rounds, half-heartedly trying to hit Hush. “I knew you weren’t here! That’s why I came to Ceres, instead of some other stupid Grineer-occupied planet!”

“Oh,” she utters. 

“‘Oh?’ That’s it!?”

“What am I supposed to say?” Maxis snaps. “‘Thanks for not killing me, but not thanks for killing my comrades and innocent workers instead’? I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you!”

“I’m flattered,” she goads, holding a hand to her chest. “But now that you’re here, I have to worry about not killing you, friend.”

“Y’could just...leave.” Max mutters quietly. “That would solve all our problems.”

“I_ heard_ that, smartass.”

“You’ve got quite a mouth on you,” Max snorts. “It’s not very lady-like, or whatever that claim is.”

“If I had it my way it’d be on you.”

Max audibly, physically chokes on air. Hush almost falls straight from the dashwire. Trouvaille startles at the noise his master makes as she flushes furiously.

“Kavat got your tongue, now? You’re awfully easy to fluster.” The Saryn Prime darts over to her position, Hush sneaking along behind.

Tinleah steps out of her Warframe. “We’ve gotta quit meeting like this,” she sighs. She reaches a palm to rest on Max’s armored shoulder lightly, and Max desperately tries to ignore how she thinks she can feel the heat.

“Uh huh,” she tries to say with disinterest.

“Anyways, fortunately for you, I’ve got what I needed,” Tin shrugs cheerily. “So I guess I can just leave.” She pats the side of Max’s face, garnering a snarl from Trouvaille. “For real, call me, meet me, something. A day in the Vallis or on the Plains instead of at each other’s throats.” She waves before stepping back into her frame. “See you later, cute thing.” The frame turns and bullet jumps away.

Hush lands next to her near silently, staring deadpan at her Operator.

“Please don’t,” Max hunches her shoulders. “I know that was dumb of ass. I don’t want to talk about it. She’s gone and that’s what matters.”

Hush makes a little heart with her hands.

“Shut it,” Max seethes. “I hate you.”

Hush imitates drawing a bow back and firing an arrow at Max. For a moment, Max is confused, though realization hits like a freight train.

_ Cupid. Cupid’s Arrow._

“I _**abhor **_you,” she snarls, cheeks bright red behind her mask. “I never loved you. Ever. Because you do this to me.”

Hush giggles, wrapping an arm around Maxis, who grunts in annoyance.


	21. Trick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it still a trick if it flops immediately?

“Hey, Max. Is something up?”

“Yes, something’s up!” Her voice is frantic and ragged. “I need you here, ASAP.”

Tin’s on her feet before Maxis even finishes the sentence. “I’m coming, I promise.” She readies her gear and Datura. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Trouvaille,” Max whimpers. “He’s….”

“He’s...what? Hurt? Missing? You’re leaving me hanging,” Tin tries to joke, but the worry seeps through. She’s more of a kavat person herself, but she knows how dear the kubrow is to Max. If something happened to him, it’d render her heartbroken and vulnerable. 

“Just get here, quick,” she ushers. Some animal-like noise goes off in the background of the call, followed by Max turning away to hush them gently. “Please.”

“I’m on my way. Stay safe.”

  


  


“Gods, that felt mean though.” Max rubs her face. “Should I really have listened to you? Don’t answer that. I know what it’ll be.”

Hush sits perkily on a boulder, letting the wind blow the trees around her gently. If possible, there’s a positively maliciously mischievous look on her face.

Trouvaille sits on the ground at her feet, covered in dark red clay and debris. He seems overjoyed at the concept, being filthy and, for once, not being scolded for it. If anything, he’s being encouraged.

“It feels real mean,” Max continues to fret. “I should call her back and let her know it’s not as serious. Right?”

Hush shakes her head.

“But--”

Hush shakes her head again.

“You’re sadistic,” she sighs. “Fine. I’ll roll with it. But if she cries the joke is immediately off.”

Hush nods sagely.

  


  


The doors to the Plains from Cetus typically took their sweet time rattling open, but today felt like it took even longer.

“C’mon, c’mon,” Tinleah mutters, dancing from foot to foot antsily. 

As soon as they crack open enough for Datura to slip though, she bolts. To the usual spot her and Maxis sit to stargaze or sunbathe or do whatever: the little rocky outcrop by Gara Toht Lake.

The sight that greets her is grim.

Hush has her head in her hands, worriedly kicking a foot through the dirt. Max is sitting on the ground, Trouvaille’s roughed-up body laying in her lap.

“Oh, god, Max,” she hurries over.

“He’s--”

“It’s okay. We’ll get him help. The Biz. Or Master Teasonai. Someone will help. We’ll get him back to good.” She rambles as she pats down the kubrow.

“No, he’s--”

“Don’t you dare be so quick to give up on him,” Tinleah snarls straight into Max’s face.

“No, Tin. He’s fine.”

A pause. “Fine?”

“Fine.”

Hush throws her arms out in an expletive gesture.

“Hush thought it would be funny to trick you once, but I couldn’t do it in good conscience.” Max huffs. “At ease,” she whispers idly.

Trouvaille snaps up, pelting clumps of dirt and leaves off his body as he shakes vigorously before barreling towards Datura.

“You taught him how to play dead and everything?” Tin asks as she reluctantly scratches one muddy ear.

“It’s a good strategy when we’re caught to pretend we’re already dead,” Max parrots someone else’s words.

“You shouldn’t have to in the first place.”

“Yeah, but it’s a what-if kind of backup plan.”

“Still. You really had to cop out, huh?”

“Listen.” Max rubs her neck nervously. “It didn’t feel right. I felt bad. What if something happened because y’were rushin? Or if you cried? By the _Void,_ if you _cried_ I would have cried too, feelin’ so bad.” She rubs her other hand over her face. “It was Hush’s idea.”

“I figured. You don’t quite have the malice in your heart to sincerely trick someone.”

“I mean…”

“That’s not an invitation for you to test it.” Datura flicks a hand, dirt coming off in clumps. “Gods, clean him off first. He’s probably the filthiest I’ve ever seen him.” 

Max snorts. “That’s all his own work. He found some of that nasty clay out by the Cliffs.”

“Ew,” she picks it off her hand. “Still. Clean him and I’ll_ consider _forgiving you for your horrible deed.”


	22. Heist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heist to rescue precious cargo.

“So, let me get this straight: you’re openly going to the enemy, asking for help, and expecting it to blow over just fine. Am I right?”

“Well, yeah, but it’s Max.”

“I understand that it’s Maxis,” Zus groans tiredly. “It’s _always _Maxis. Tinleah, you have a fine head on your shoulders; I would think you would see the issues that would arise from this.”

“That’s why we don’t mention that I’m involved,” she chirps confidently.

Zus heaves a sigh and rubs his temple. “If you can do this right, that’ll work. If anything goes awry, then we’ll have problems.”

“Then we won’t have an issue. Simple as that.”

“It’s not quite that easy,” he answers with false cheeriness.

“I know. Seriously, I do,” Tin sobers up. “I’ll have Solise helping to guide me throughout the whole thing, on top of your Hounds. I think we’ll be okay, big guy. Promise.”

Zus snorts. “Fine, then. I’ll allow a small group of Max’s closest soldiers to go, to minimize the chance of failure. They’ll keep their mouths shut, and should listen to you and your cephalon.”

“Cool!” Tinny instantly perks back up. “We’re gonna get her back, safe and sound. Cross my heart.”

“I’d rather not.”

“That’s the spirit.”

  


  


_“You’re to follow their orders for this short period. Understood?”_

“Yessir,” the four troopers answer in unison.

“Good. Tinleah, Solise, whoever. Take the lead. Ring me if anything comes up.”

“Oh! Okay,” Tin balks at the sight of the four burly soldiers standing in front of her expectantly.

“Well?” one prompts lightly. “We goin’?”

“Aye,” another fidgets with their rifle. “Too quiet without the kiddo around. Gotta get her back before I lose my mind.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get her,” Tinleah assures. “Solise, care to sitrep?”

_“Maxis, Hush, and Trouvaille are all being held in the same area, much to the Corpus’ stupidity,”_ the cephalon chides. _“In fact, they’re basically in the same holding cell. One infiltration is all that will be required.”_

“Good news, then,” one of the Hounds chimes again. “That’s your specialty, yeah?” They wave a hand to her and Datura. “You seem more the hacky-stealy type of individuals. We just cause a ruckus to give you time,” they wink. 

_“Correct.”_ Solise answers_. “I will handle navigating to the cells by feeding information to Tinleah via Datura, and she herself will handle the hacking. As you mentioned, your jobs will be to cause a distraction and take out wardens.”_

“Roger that,” the Hounds confirm in a warbled echo.

“Lets’s git ‘er,” the tallest mocks Maxis’ accent playully.

“Yeah. Let’s get her,” Tin smiles.

  


  


The Corpus facility is almost painfully silent the entire way through. A wandering MOA here, a dim-witted Crewman there, all easily picked off without a sound. The small ragtag group of Hounds, while brought along for the sole purpose of making noise, are surprisingly quiet when needed to be. Their Sheevs are their go-to silencers, flying through the air and hitting their target with deadly precision.

“Gods, you folks are scary when you need to be,” Tinleah shudders as another Sheev lands in the throat of a Crewman.

“When needed, yeah,” one answers as they casually yank their knife out of the corpse. “We’re not always intended to run in like bulldozers.”

_“You’re nearing the holding facility,”_ Solise pipes in through Tin’s comm link. 

“Just about there,” Tinny relays to the others. 

They nod in acknowledgement. 

She hacks the entrance door to the holding facility, and the Hounds hold back until given a signal to go in loud. 

“Maxis and her cohorts are being held in cell 2B. Go in, take a right, and you’ll know which one she’s in, as it seems to be the only one active.”

“Gotcha.” Tinleah shakes out some jitters beforehand. “Solise says Max is in one of the front cells, pretty easy to get to.” She heaves a sigh. “You guys ready?”

“As we’ll ever be.”

“Then go loud, go proud.”

And loud and proud they do go.

They fan out immediately, shouts and shots coming from different angles and throwing off the wardens.

“Go, go!” one ushers her with a hand. “We got the idiots covered.”

Datura makes quick work of any residual guards left to guard individual cells. No armor, nothing to protect them from the corroding agents. Shields didn’t do much to save them.

_2B...2B...there!_ The panel on the outside of the cell is lit yellow, showing a locked status. Tin knocks on the door.

“Company!” she singsongs.

She hears a hoarse bark from inside and two knocks back. Quickly, her fingers move deftly over the console, undoing any coding the Corpus has instilled to keep the Tenno locked away.

“Maxis! You ready?” No response verbally, but two knocks sound off again.

The door whooshes open and Trouvaille stands bristling as a precaution, in case the rescue was a ruse. As soon as he sees Datura, he relaxes, stubby tail wagging. Hush stands in front of Maxis protectively, but eases the same way as she sees who’s entering.

“Is she okay?” Tinleah frets. “Why isn’t she speaking?”

Hush points to a speaker overhead, then makes a shushing motion.

“They’ve got voice trackers now? Impressive.” Hush stoops over to pick her Operator up, who looks worse for wear but happy to be free. “Let’s get you all out of here.”

As they hurry out of the holding area, Hush cocks a head to the side curiously at the sound of familiar gunfire.

“Zus may have lent me some Hounds to help get you three out,” she shrugs cockily. Max tries to feebly laugh from where Hush has her.

“You got ‘er?” one of them shouts over the commotion.

“Yes!” she bellows back. “We can leave!”

“You heard the girl!” the Hound roars. “Leave a lasting impression! You four get moving, we’ll cover behind.”

Hush carries Max carefully through the facility, relying on Datura and Trouvaille and the Hounds, quickly catching up, to do the defending.

_“You have her, then?” _Solise prompts.

“Yes,” Tin huffs. “Tell Zus we’re on our way back.”

“Can do. I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear his favorite troublemakers are out and safe.”

“Should we give you two some _alone time_?” one of the gruff voices sounds off from right behind Tinleah, and she jolts. The four Hounds are looking at her expectantly and cockily, knowingly. 

“N-no, no, uh,” she sweats. “Gods, I knew this was going to come up at some point.” She rubs a hand over her face. “No. Just...keep your minds out of the gutters.” 

“Sure thing, Rin Tin Tin,” another copies one of Max’s nicknames for her, making her flush.

Max swats a hand weakly. “That’s my thing, don’t steal it,” she whines.

“I’m sure you call her other things,” they respond, cocking an eyebrow.

Max rolls her eyes, swatting them away.

“Zus, this is Tinleah. We have all three of them, safe and sound. None of the Hounds were harmed, either. We’re on our way out.”

_“Perfect. As smoothly as could be. Well done.”_


	23. Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max always loved the stars.

“Man, when I was little, I used to geek out about astronomy big time.”

“You were smart enough for that?”

Max snorts. “Yeah. I lost brain cells over time. I was actually a childhood genius before the decline.”

“I kid,” Tinleah hums. “Still, though. Are you still into it?”

“Well, yeah.” Max shrugs. “Just...not as openly. Nobody really cares about what goes on in the System when it’s not related to resources or war.”

“Well, what do you still know, then?” Tin rolls over and props her chin in her hands.

“Don’t get me started,” the scruffy Operator huffs. “I’ll bore you to damn near death.”

“Nonsense,” Tin swats at her. “Go for it.”

“I don’ even know what to talk ‘bout.”

“How about...stars. What do you know about stars? I know they’re the typical giant balls of furious, boiling, roiling gases and plasma, but do you know any of their names?”

“Oh! I do, actually!” Max brightens up, even in the nighttime light. “First of all, the brightest star you can see in the night sky from here is Sirius, Greek for ‘scorching’. It’s also called the Dog Star. There’s been a lotta names for it, since a lotta people could see it clearly.” Max pauses. “I’m rambling already. Sorry.” She rubs the back of her neck.

Tinleah waves a hand dismissively. “No, keep going! I like hearing you talk about things you like. You get genuinely excited and happy.”

Max flushes and scoffs. “Hm. Anyways, uh...Canopus is the second brightest star in the sky. Nobody’s sure what it’s named after, since there’s a few different possibilities. Usually can only be seen in the Southern Hemisphere of Earth, but so much has changed by now that you could probably see it from here.”

“Mhm,” Tin affirms, staring dreamily up into the sky.

“Alpha Centauri is the third brightest star. Name means ‘foot of the centaur’. One of the most well-known stars out there. The thing is, it’s not just one star-- it’s actually a three-star system. Part of the Centaurus constellation, big surprise.” She pauses to think. “If I remember right, it’s actually pretty similar to the Sun. Same age ‘n’ classification ‘n’ whatnot.”

“Can we see it from here?”

“Not...really.”

“What are some we can spot from here, then? I wanna be able to see what you’re lovin’ about.”

“There’s Arcturus,” Max suggests. “Brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere. Name means ‘guardian of the bear’ from Greek legends. You can find it pretty easily using the Big Dipper as a guide.”

“How so?”

“Uh, I can’t...really point it out, so…” Max pauses before grabbing a stick and drawing in the dirt. “If this is the Dipper, then you follow the handle to arc to Acrturus.” She makes a big dot to prove her point.

Tin looks back up to try and see for herself.

“It’s colder and older than the Sun,” Max rattles off. “Still one of the most noticeable stars in our part of the planet.”

“Okay, if I find the Big Dipper then...oh!” Tin points. “That it?”

Max shrugs. “I have no idea, but probably.” She sighs. “I miss being able to ramble about things unabashedly. You’re like the one person I can do that with, besides Hush. But you can talk back.”

“I’ll never sincerely pick on you for talking about what you love,” Tin nudges her shoulder. “You let that fly free, here.”

“Would you punch me if I said something really classic and cheesy right now?”

“Probably.”

“Cool.” Max scoots a few feet away before continuing. “But, out of all the stars in the sky, you’re still the brightest and prettiest.” She seems absolutely proud of herself for the horrible joke.

“_Ugh_, Maxis, that caused me physical pain,” Tinleah groans. “Datura, pitch her in the lake or something.”

“Datura, do_ not_,” Max counters, scooching further and further away from the Warframe. “Hush, stop her!”

Hush shrugs and goes back to braiding flower stems together.

“Thanks, Hush. Good job, Hush.”


	24. Hugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruckus knows a trick or two.

“I really don’t understand how you tamed him that easily. A feral animal. You didn’t even know exactly what he was. And you just sidled up to him and now he’s yours.”

Max shrugs from where she’s perched on Ruckus, high above the other Operator. “‘S jus’ a matter of bein’ nice, I guess.”

Trouvaille lays at Ruckus’ feet, gnawing on some piece of wood he’d found and targeted. Hush and Datura stand off to the side, idly pointing out whatever catches their eye.

“Hm.” Tinleah hums. “It’s only a matter of time before you teach him tricks like Trouvaille.” She snorts at her own comment.

“He actually already knows a few basic commands.”

Tin falters. _“What?”_

“Mostly just basic ones for combat. But he knows others.” She slides down from the creature’s back to land on her feet with a thump. “Ruckster, hide.”

Ruckus ducks his head to the ground, lowers his tail, and tries to crouch as much as he can.

“Ruckers, up,” Max lifts a hand.

Ruckus rears on his hind legs, swatting the air with his forelegs.

“Rucky, uh,” Max thinks. “Put ‘er there.” She extends a palm.

Ruckus lifts a foreleg to delicately meet Max’s gesture.

“Un-be-lievable.” Tinny stutters.

“Y’know what his best trick is, though?”

“Do I want to know?”

“Yes, you do,” Max scolds. 

“Fine. What’s his ‘best trick’?”

“Rucko, go give Tinny a hug. Be nice.”

“No,” Tinleah aborts immediately. She’s still wary of the hulking beast Max has befriended.

“Just stand still. It’s fine.”

“No.”

“Want me to show you first?”

“I just don’t… want to do it.”

“Please? He ain’t gonna hurt you none.”

“Maybe if you show first.”

“Fine,” Max shrugs. “C’mere,” she snaps a finger at the equine-esque creature. He turns to her and lifts his head expectantly. Max dives in and wraps her arms around his thick, broad neck, burying her face into his scruffy mane. Ruckus eases his head back down to rest on her back gently, almost soothingly. Quickly, Max pats his neck twice and steps back carefully. “That’s literally all it is. He just goes in for a hug.”

“That’s so adorable. That has no right being so adorable,” Tin fumes. “You giant, hulking, smelly, dirty beast gives hugs and high-fives. Unreal.”

“Give him one,” Max chirps.

Tinleah huffs, but complies. She plods over to Ruckus, holding an arm out and grimacing. Ruckus moves incredibly delicately for an animal of his size and stature as he approaches. He wraps his head around Tinleah’s shoulder, and nudges her close. She begrudgingly wraps an arm around his neck in return, scritching the thick skin roughly in a manner he enjoys.

“There. Happy?” She huffs from against Ruckus’ neck.

“Hm. Nah,” Max evaluates. “Needs more.”

“‘Needs more’? More wh--”

Max blasts to latch on to the other side of Tin, hugging her fiercely. Trapped between the Operator’s arm and Ruckus’ heavy head, she squawks. 

Trouvaille riles at the noise. He leaps up, forelegs perching on Tinleah’s free shoulder and he stands to join.

Datura and Hush share a look, a very knowing look, before joining. Hush latches on to Maxis boldly, making her giggle like a fool. Datura sweeps both Tinleah and Trouvaille off their feet with her strength.

“Rin Tin Tin, your Warframe is a _show-off,_” Max wheezes from where she’s being crushed by Hush.

Datura beams at the accusation.

“She may be, but at least she’s _disciplined._”

“Hush is disciplined!” Max protests and Hush proves how undisciplined she is by putting Maxis in a headlock and ruffling her hair. 

“Uh-huh.” Tinleah deadpans.

“Whatever. You still love her.”

“I suppose I do. I have to go with the package deal in this case,” Tin sighs dramatically. “If I want the cute Operator, I_ have _to take the rowdy Warframe and kubrow as well.” She huffs. “Life isn’t fair.”

“Life’s fair enough. Met yous guys and all. So that’s fair.”

“God, Max, you’re a hopeless romantic, you know it?”

“I know a few things.”


	25. Search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's the point?

“D’we need to, like...actually find the caches, though? Can’t we just sabotage and leave?” Max’s weary voice sounds over the comm link.

_“Tinleah could, sure._” Zus is almost audibly smirking. _“She doesn’t need to stay. You do. You need the information supposedly in one of these caches. You’re stuck.”_

Max heaves a tired sigh. Hush stands idly, Trouvaille sitting at her feet. Somewhere, Tinleah and Datura are wreaking havoc on their way to the Corpus reactor.

And Max is hunting caches.

The ship rumbles as the other Warframe tears through it. “Sure, fine, let’s split up,” Max mocks. “Let’s split up to find the caches faster, except you’re going to be looking for them. Only you. Because Hush is busy and Trouvaille doesn’t know a cache from a regular locker.”

“I can hear you,” Tinleah scolds.

“But it’s true.” Max huffs.

“No, it’s not. I’m looking too.”

“Hardly.”

“What’s gotten you so grumpy?” Tinleah queries. “You’re usually not this grouchy about things. What’s your deal?”

“Caches suck to look for. There’s never anything good in them. Why bother?”

“These ones are supposed to have floorplans and valuable data in them, though.”

“So?”

“Don’t you want to make your dads proud?”

Max resists the urge to sigh again, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

“For real, what’s wrong?”

“The only reason I’m even here is because the Hounds had an ‘inspection’ today, with higher-ups. And Zus is still too fretful to let me go. I don’t feel like I belong anymore. There, got it?” Max whooshes. “‘Let’s send the kid on a meaningless task to get rid of her so we don’t get questioned too hard, it’ll save time! She needs enrichment, as Dodge says!’ Blast the damned child out of the way to get her out of our hair so we can do whatever, just like everyone else has before!” Max clenches her fist.

“I don’t think that’s what they meant--”

“‘Course it is! Zus is still ashamed I’m there! Like he’s going to get a slap on the wrist, which is a death-sentence for him!” she snarls. “Why not just discard the kid, forget she’s out there, leave again, what would it matter? Why would it matter? She’s just a _liability_ anyways, a set-back and a drag-down. We’re running out of ways to keep her entertained, so just get rid of her, then.”

“Maxis.” Tinleah is deathly serious now.

“What?” Max snaps back.

“That’s not how they see you, and you know it. It might feel that way, but that’s not how it actually is. They have to hide you, yes, but it’s to keep you safe. Higher-ups are still wary of letting their worst enemy in among their ranks, so Zus is making sure you’re safe and sound besides the fact.” She soothes. “They’re not ashamed of you. They’re not trying to get rid of you. They’re keeping you safe, so they can have you around longer.”

“But it just--”

“‘But’ nothing,” Tin cuts her off.

“Tinleah does have a point, Maxis,” Solise interrupts gently. “They’re not searching for ways to keep you out of the way so you won’t be a hassle. They’re searching for ways to keep you safe from harm and scrutiny.”

Max is trembling, anger for once a predominant emotion. It didn’t suit her. Hush rubs her shoulder, but she ignores the gesture.

“They’re not...embarrassed you’re there,” Tin continues.

“Far from it. You know how advantageous it is to have the enemy on your side? Among your own, willingly? That’s a fantastic thing to boast once the agent has proven their loyalty.” Solise pauses. “And you? You are that agent. They’re waiting for there to be no doubt that you’re loyal to the Grineer cause, so you won’t be ridiculed and harassed by officials wanting to start something.”

Max hums disbelievingly. 

“Either way, in the time you’ve been festering, I’ve found the last two caches,” Tinleah finishes. “Zus is probably still busy, so we can hang out for a while. Where would you like to chill? The Orbiter? Outside?”

“I want a nap.”

“A nap will do.”


	26. Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keep the lantern lit.

“This dude is so creepy. I hate him.” Tinleah festers, slaughtering waves of Infested with Datura and her Nikana.’

“I think he’s just tryin’ to be nice,” Max answers obliviously.

“God, Max, he uses puns,” Tin seethes. “’You are _divided_. We _multiply_.’ Math puns, Maxis!”

“He’s generous with compliments, though.”

“Max, he’s tryin’ to kill us.”

“That part aside.”

“I don’t know how or why I put up with you sometimes,” Tin festers. “Go find the Zealot Bastion, steal the lantern from him, will you?”

“Roger roger,” Max salutes before wandering away, Hush and Trouvaille in tow.

“Did she seriously think he’s just complimenting us to be nice?” Tinleah asks herself.

“No,” another voice answers. “She’s trying to be light-hearted. Max may be dense at times, but she’s no fool.”

“That’s debatable.”

“Hush, you,” Solise chides gently. “That’s your girl you’re speaking of.”

“I’m allowed to call her out on being naive and foolish if I need to.”

Solise hums amusedly. 

“Yo, Tin! I got the lantern. Headed your way,” Max chirps over the link.

“Congrats, you performed one simple task!” Tinleah deadpans.

“I know! Sometimes I can do things!”

Max meets up with her, face lit eerily by the lantern’s dim light.

“We need to keep it lit while we look for caches, alright?”

Max nods.

“Do you...know how to keep it lit?”

“_Annihilate_,” Max grins. “You gotta_ destroy_.”

“Okay, hellion,” Tin answers warily. “You keep in charge of that.”

The Derelicts have countless corridors and hallways to meander through as the pair searches for caches. Max, for her part, does keep up fairly well, trailing like a content kubrow. So...Trouvaille, Tin chuckles to herself.

Hush pats Tinleah’s shoulder urgently, pointing to the room ahead.

“New horde?”

Hush nods.

“Perfect. Go free, Maxis, destroy to your heart’s content. You’re normally so...reserved, I’m surprised by this sudden violence being brought out in you.”

“I got no part of me feeling bad for Infested,” Max shrugs. “They’s just nasty. No good. No brains.”

“I see.”

Max barges into the grand room, skittering to the middle as her, Hush, and Trouvaille unleash an onslaught against the mindless Infested funneling into the room.

“Cache found,” Tin informs from where she’s at. “Two more. God, there’s bats on them. Eugh.”

“Bats?” Max’s excitement is tangible. “Little flyin’ dudes? I haven’t seen one of them in _ages!_”

“You can’t keep one.”

“Didn’t say that!” Max continues. “Mark one of the caches so I can check them out!”

“Clear out that horde first,” Tinleah reminds her. “That lantern needs to stay lit.”

Max does a wonderful job keeping the lantern going. Not once does it flicker towards dying; always staying bright and strong. Hush seems almost bored, picking off Infested with her bow, and Trouvaille nearly stands stationary as he swats at anything that dumbly wanders close.

“Fine, here, a cache. Get over here.”

It takes a moment, but Max’s pattering footsteps grow near quickly. “Woah!” She prances up to the eerie locker as the bats swarm the outside. “For real, actual bats!” She goes to reach a hand out towards one.

“Absolutely not,” Tin swats her hand away. 

“Biz would be so interested by these fellas. I wonder how they stuck around so long in safety.”

“Who cares? They’re probably vampire bats; remember those things?” Tinleah shudders. “Get away from them.”

“Actually, a lot of bats eat fruits and nectar,” Max chimes. “They don’t actually drink blood. Just juice.” She preens.

Tin pauses. “You’re serious? All those fables about staying out too late? They’re...fables?”

“Yeah! They’re really chill, actually. Good pollinators.”

“The more you know,” Tin mutters.

“There used to be quite a few different species of bats in this area, but I doubt--”

“Gods, Max, I love you, but no more bats. They creep me out.”

“They’re harmless, though.”

“Still. Find this last cache, let’s get out of here before that creep starts in again."


	27. Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maxis isn't afraid of the dark, she swears.

Max hated the Corpus outposts overrun by Infestation.

The growths blocked windows and doors, completely changing the layout of the place. The natural light that typically filtered in is blocked out, disgusting and writhing boils of Infestation blocking out any entrances. Any lights that were available don’t work-- the growths have broken into circuitry, contaminated connections and shattered bulbs. If there’s any that still work, they flicker dimly, casting stretching shadows that dance and sway as you approach.

Oh, how Maxis hated it.

“You’re fine. You’re totally fine,” Cas chirps to her. For once, the cephalon has joined her, instead of staying back at base to analyze information coming and going. “There’s no monsters that I can see.”

“Thanks, Cas.” Max mutters. “You’re really helping,” she grits sarcastically as her grip on her Argonak tightens.

“You’re welcome,” the AI chimes. “The terminal you are searching for is in the northeast part of the location. You’re headed the right direction.”

In the haste to expel and evacuate the facility, the Corpus likely left behind some valuable information. A typical job for Maxis, but one that still unsettled her nonetheless.

Maxis usually uses shadows to help determine where enemies are standing or approaching. Here, there isn’t any light to cast shadows.

Hush follows closely, her bow out and ready. Trouvaille slinks along as Max’s feet, ears flicking to follow any noises echoing through the halls.

“Maxis,” Cas frets suddenly. “Up ahead, there’s a dense mass of biosignatures. There’s Infested up there.”

“Okay,” Max whispers, flicking a hand to usher Hush close. “There’s company ahead. What should we do?”

“A well-placed noise arrow would draw them away from the doorway so you could slip through. Another would keep them at the other side of the room where they wouldn’t cause an issue.” 

Hush nods, slipping into Prowl. She creeps up the stairs, under the dingy, battered security camera still struggling to scan its charge. 

Ping! One of her noise arrows flies over the bundle of twisted, mangled, living bodies to hit a corner. Their malformed heads (or what would be heads) circle around to the noise, bodies following shortly after.

Hush swishes a hand to urge Max through. She ducks under the camera as well, sidling along the wall out of sight. Here, the darkness provided an advantage: the Infested had just as poor eyesight as she did in lack of light. 

One of the creatures turns idly towards them.

Max freezes. Trouvaille bristles, ready to dart and attack.

Hush keeps her cool. She fires off another noise arrow, just to the side of the previous. The thing twists back around to stare, giving Max the chance to skitter through the doorway unscathed.

The data terminal is, surprisingly, untouched by the Infestation. None of the growths have reached it, no tendrils or boils or breathing masses hanging off the side.

“Okay, plug me in, I’ll get to work,” Cas comments.

Max slips the little datamass out of a pocket, plugging it in.

“I’m in. Give me a few moments and this’ll be done.” Cas speaks idly, obviously focused elsewhere.

Hush stands in the doorway, still in Prowl, keeping the group of Infested busy chasing wandering noises.

“And...done.” Cas sighs. “It looks like the left nearly everything here in their panic. Zus will be pleased. There’s messages, conversations, intelligence, layouts, plans...all wonderful news.”

Max relaxes. The trip wasn’t in vain. “Good. Store that, or whatever you do. Let’s get the hell out.” She shivers. “I ain’t afraid of no dark, but man, Corpus architect freaks me out, especially in the dark.”


	28. Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What does Max dream about?

“What d’you dream ‘bout?”

“You.” Deadpan, emotionless, forced.

“C’mon,” Max snorts. “F’r real. Tell me.”

“You first.”

“Okay.” Max sits up. “I really dream ‘bout the skies being so clear at night that you can see so many stars that it’s unfathomable,” she sighs. “No galleons, no dropships, no smoke or missle or nothin’. Just the vast expanse of the night sky to look at, remind us of our place.”

Tinleah sits and thinks the words over.

“Or, we can go the cheesy route; wish that there wasn’t any more war in the System. No more wonderin’ who I’m gonna lose that day, what friends aren’t coming back from a mission, no more questionin’ whether I’m going to come back from a mission unscathed. No more worrying that I’m not gonna be able to…” she trails off suddenly.

“Spit it out.”

“God, it’s so...cliche, though.”

“Spit.”

“I sincerely worry, every time we part, that it’ll be the last time we see each other alive and well.”

Tinleah’s heart drops. “Oh, Max.”

“Don’t brush it off,” Max cuts her off tersely. “Because it’s true. I could lose you, I could lose the Hounds, I could lose Zus or Dodge or Buffy, I could lose Hush, I could lose Trouvaille. It’s dumb luck that we’ve all made it this far.”

“But you did make it here.” Tin reminds her. “And it’s not dumb luck. It’s care, and attention, and skill.”

Max sits quietly. “Sorry,” she mutters after a pause. “I’m so out of sorts lately.”

“Nonsense,” Tinny assures her. “How about I finally tell you what I dream about?”

“Shoot.”

“I dream about us being able to hang out damn near anywhere we wanted, to hell with who sees,” she starts. “Show it off to the Corpus, rub it in the faces of higher-up Grineer.” She squishes Max’s face in her palms. “This is my girl, and I love her and her mind to bits and pieces, and nothing’s going to change that.”

Max hums warily.

“Don’t you even,” Tin warns. “This is my dream. It’s a perfect scenario, which means you don’t get to berate yourself any. Because it’s my dream and I say so,” she finishes primly.

“Fine,” Max sighs. “What would we do, then?”

“Waltz around like we owned any place we wanted. First stop, Kuva Fortress. Screw the Queens, show ‘em what we are.”

“I can’t say that.”

“You’re not saying it,” Tinleah reminds her. “I am. And I would parade you around that hellscape, blast it on those damned monitors and speakers they have installed. I’d then go rub it in Captain Vor’s face. Maybe Sargas Ruk. Vay Hek.” She peppers Max’s face with little kisses with every pause “ Hell, Doctor Tengus. The G3. Let’s bring Shadow Stalker into this too. Hunhow. Maroo. I’d be lovey-dovey in front of Darvo and Baro until they got sick and tired of us.”

Max is grinning now.

“And since this is my dream, they’d have to deal with it. Us being sickeningly sweet in public. Gods, half those people would burst into flames. Literally. If I recall, Ruk does that.”

Max is laughing.

“Fine, I guess,” she manages as the laughter settles. “Your dream is very precise and accurate. I’d like it to happen, too.”

“Same with yours. I want anything that makes you happy.”

“You make me happy.”

From the sidelines, Hush slams a hand on Datura’s shoulder and clutches her own heart dramatically.

“You say the cutest, most romantic things without even thinking about it. It’s astonishing.”

“No brain-to-mouth filter.”

They both snort.


	29. Accuse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was it her?

“Information just so happened to _conveniently _slip past the one squadron with one of the enemy among them. How curious.”

“If you’re implying what I think you’re implying,” the commander snarls, “you’re in over your head.”

“It’s coincidental, no?” The general sneers down at him. “That the valuable information be leaked when the Tenno is nowhere to be seen.”

“She wouldn’t intentionally betray us.” Would she?

“Hmph.” The general snorts. “Once a piece of scum,_ always_ a piece of scum.”

“She’s not scum.” Zus struggles to keep his head level. “She’s valuable to us. She provides benefits your battalion lacks, and that’s why we’re so successful.”

“Yet, you’re the only squad that’s had a major information leak recently,” they answer nonchalantly.

“Show me one of your troops that is on par with her,” Zus breathes. “Go ahead. Show me. I’m waiting.”

“To be fair, I don’t have one. All my troopers are loyal Grineer, blood and flesh. No _defectors_ among them.”

His hands clench into fists.

_“Zus, I can hear your temper rising from all the way here. Drop out of it._” Dodge’s staticky voice cuts in.

“That’s what she is, is she not? A defector from her cause. Slipped out from under the Lotus’ nose.” Their voice is airy, undirected. “Slunk away like the vermin she is. Picked up by a commander whose heart is too big for his own good.” They lean in. “You should get that in check, _commander_. It’ll lead to complications later on.”

“What did you--?”

“Me? Why, nothing. I’m insulted you’d insinuate I’d _try _to frame a traitor to get them eliminated.” Their eyes narrow, deadly. “I _always finish my jobs.”_

“You did it.” Zus’ voice is deathly calm. “You set her up. You’re the reason.”

“I may be, I may not be.” The general shrugs innocently. “You’ve no way to prove it.”

“I have this conversation.”

“Your word against mine, then? Who do you think will prevail? The respected, well-known general, or the soggy-hearted underdog?”

“She’ll prover herself one way or another.” Zus straightens. “You know what you are? You’re afraid of her.”

“I am not--”

“You’re afraid of her, because she could easily mow us all down, her and that Warframe and that kubrow, if she so felt like it. We wouldn’t be able to stop her. I wouldn’t be able to. You wouldn’t be able to.”

“What’s your point?” They growl lowly.

“She hasn’t done any of that. How many times has she had a chance to take someone out? Kill an entire squadron? Steal intelligence and leak it herself, without some lousy bastard doing it and framing her?”

“That’s besides the issue.”

“Is it, though?” Zus leans in now. “You’re afraid because she has the potential to show you up. Some kid, from the opposing force, showing up the high-ranked, respected, general.” He hums. “Ironic, someone so high to be afraid of someone they consider so low.”

“You shut your_ goddamned _mouth!”

“No. Keep it up, general, I’ll see to it myself that something unfortunate happens on your watch.”

“You wouldn’t. You’re not stiff enough. You wouldn’t betray--”

“Of course, I didn’t think you would betray one of your own,” Zus speaks over him. “But I’ve been surprised. Maybe you’ll be surprised as well.”

The general seethes.

“So, how about it?” Zus asks cooly. “You keep your nose in your business, your own troops, and I’ll keep mine on my own.”

“You’re disgusting.” The general relents. “You have a deal. Keep that heathen on a tight leash, maybe we won’t have any more...occurrences.”

“I’ll be sure to keep it in mind.”


	30. Challenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tinny issues a little challenge.

“Are you any good with that clunky, intrusive thing?”

“Uh. I guess?” Max falters from where she’s cleaning her Argonak.

“It’s so...bulky, though,” Tinleah continues. “How can you maneuver it well enough? Don’t you clunk into things?”

“You’re rather blunt, y’know?” Max huffs lightly.

“We’re getting to know each other. I’m allowed to be blunt.”

“I guess.” She looks at the rifle in her hands. “I’m just used to it. Same way you and Datura are used to your Tiberon.”

_ “Prime_,” Tin corrects her. “There’s a difference.”

“I never really took to noticing them,” Max shrugs idly.

Hush scoots to her Operator to loom over Max menacingly at Tinleah’s curt tone.

“Hush, bug off.” Max swats at her playfully. “She’s just chattin’.”

“Yeah, Hush, we’re just chatting. That’s what friends do,” Tinleah sneers.

Hush fumes, but backs off. Datura watches her every move with the same intensity.

“How about I propose a challenge, then? See whose gun is better?”

“It doesn’t really matter to me, though. Mine works for me, yours works for you.”

“Shush. Stop trying to be bashful. Be angry for once.” Tinleah waves her off playfully. “That tree, straight ahead. There’s a knot in it. Hit it with that bulky thing of yours.”

Max peers ahead at the tree. “Over there? Really?”

“Yeah, really. Think you can’t? Prefer to go for a Condroc?”

“I ain’t shootin’ no animals,” Max seethes, staring at Tinleah with deadly intent.

“Okay, no animals. Do the tree, then.” Truth be told, the look Max had shot her was slightly...intimidating.

Max unclicks the safety on the rifle, and looks into the scope. The laser sight glows dimly in the shade they’re hidden in, casting a soft yellow glow on the barrel of the gun. She scopes in carefully, pausing to make sure the shot is perfect. A semi-automatic round blasts out, and in the distance, the tree spits up a clump of wood shards from the knot. “Like so?”

“You hit it?” Tinleah asks incredulously. 

“I think?”

“Datura, go check.” Datura dashes off while Max puts her rifle away. When the Saryn Prime reaches the tree, she looks closely, then throws an ‘_all good’_ signal back to her Operator. “You did hit it. I didn’t think you would.”

“‘S not nice t’underestimate your new friends,” Max chides smartly.

“We’re not friends yet.”

“Then what?”

“Frenemies.”

Max snorts before she can hold it back.

“Yeah, frenemies. I still hate your guts, but am working to like you. I’m tougher to appeal to than someone like you, who falls head-over-heels at first interaction,” she puffs her chest out.

“Uh huh,” Max shrugs. “I c’nsider you a friend already, though. Just so you know.”

Now, it’s Tinleah’s turn to falter. This incredulous girl, somehow so childish yet so deadly at the same time, so innocent and lethal. How was she going to keep up with her?

“Fine. I’m promoting you to ‘friend’ status.” Tinleah announces. She tries to ignore the way Max’s face practically lights up, even under her facemask. “Don’t push it, though.”

Max grins knowingly. “I ain’t.”


	31. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max has been gone.

Max is gone.

Max has been gone.

For weeks.

_ Is she worrying? Fretting? Should I have at least notified her, somehow?_

“Get your mind out of the gutter, child,” Cas chides to her. “You couldn’t have done anything.” She tries to soothe her worries.

“I still shoulda said something, though.” Max frowns, worrying a buckle between her fingers. “Instead I just went radio silent on her.”

“She’ll understand.”

“What if she doesn’t?” Max blurts. “What if she’s mad at me now? What if she hates me for worrying her? What if she doesn’t want to see me anymore, because she’ll think I’m prone to zoning out for four weeks at a time without letting her know I’m alright?”

“Maxis,” Cas tries to interrupt.

“She’s almost guaranteed to be mad. I don’t blame her. ‘Hey, I know I’m a big part of your life and all, but do you mind if I just vanish for a month?’”

“Maxis,” Cas tries again.

Hush watches worriedly from the seat across from her Operator. Maxis is prone to fretting, but it’s never been this bad. Trouvaille perches in the seat adjacent to the worried child soldier, following her flailig hand gestures with watchful eyes.

“God, what if I messed it up?” Max sighs. “What if I messed us up?”

“Maxis!” Cas snaps. “Apologies for the outburst, but by the Void, child, you’re hard to derail when you get going.”

“S’rry,” Max mutters.

“Don’t be. Anyways, I sincerely doubt Tinleah is going to be in any way upset at you for what you had to do. You had no choice.”

“But--”

“No buts. I have some…’intelligence from a reliable source’ that says quite the contrary.”

“Uh huh?”

“Yes. This source says Tinleah is worried, but that’s expected. But-- she is not angry at you, or with you, or anything of the likes.”

“What’s your source? How reliable?”

“Very.”

“Who?”

Cas crumples. “Solise.”

Hush trills internally. This would ease Max’s mind, for sure.

“You’ve been talking to Solise?” Max asks incredulously.

“Over a secure, private, very-heavily guarded link, yes.”

“Tell her to tell Tinleah I’m okay! Tell her to tell Tin that I’m almost back!”

“She is already aware of it.”

“So, she isn’t mad? Like, at all?”

“Far from it.”

Hush claps her hands together, mimicking a world-rocking hug.

Max sighs in relief. “Thank Gods. I dunno what I’d do with a war-bent Tin after my hide for something like that.”

\---

_ “Maxis Morgenne, you scared me nearly to death!”_

Oh, this was serious. Very rarely was Maxis’ last nominer brought into a situation. Hush frets.

Tinleah practically bursts out of Datura at mach speed, barreling into her partner.

“Sorry,” Max wheezes meekly.

“Don’t be sorry! But also, be sorry for worrying your girlfriend so badly!”

“Sorry?” Max wheezes again.

“I know you didn’t have a choice,” Tinleah takes Max’s face in her palms. “I know you couldn’t do anything about what happened. But I still worried. I’m not mad.”

Max flushes.

Hush giggles.

Trouvaille runs rampant around the four of them, tearing up clumps of dirt with his claws in his frenzy.

“Gods, girl, what were you even doing?” Tinleah squishes her palms together to compress Max’s face.

“Recon,” Max mumbles. “Long recon. High-risk recon. We couldn’t speak to anyone else outside of the Hounds that whole time.”

“Gosh, you managed to last _that long_ with Buffy?” Tin giggles.

“Barely.” Max rolls her bright green eyes. “Was ready t’strangle him by the end. I can only handle so much.”

“I’m so glad you’re okay, though.” Tin squeezes Maxis in a tight hug. “Lord, did I worry, but Solise isn’t that subtle at letting me know she has word that you’re doing okay.”

“Yeah, Cas was, apparently. I didn’t find out until today that she’d been talking with y’all.”

Tinleah snorts suddenly. _“Y’all.”_

“Yeah?”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Ye’h.”

“You’re lucky I’m okay with ridiculous. And muddy kubrows.” She throws a glare to Trouvaille. “And smartass Warframes.” She throws another look to Hush, winking.


End file.
